


A Week To Confess

by Sekundi



Category: BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: Afterglow, Arcades, Characters will be added as they appear - Freeform, Crack, F/F, Fluff, Gawakening (Gay Awakening), Humor, Light Angst, Yukina Minato Cannot Use A Phone, yukinas harem: the fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:09:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22854499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sekundi/pseuds/Sekundi
Summary: Yukina Minato is a perfectly happy atheist introvert, not interested at all in romance. But all that changes one night when she is visited by God (a giant pink bear) who tells her that one of her friends is in love with her, and that she must find out who they are within a week. Because if she doesn't, the whole world will end. Yukina is suddenly forced to go on many awkward dates as she tries to discover this mystery person, all the while struggling with her own personal feelings.Welcome to romance at its most ridiculous.
Relationships: Yukina/?, Yukina/Everyone, final pairing gets revealed as the fic goes on
Comments: 102
Kudos: 154





	1. Lisa

Sunday 

Every teenager on the planet knew what their room looked like at 3am, and if they said they didn’t they were a liar. This was one of Yukina’s strongest beliefs, although she had to admit she was a bit more familiar with the small hours than the average sleep deprived teen.

...Which was probably an issue, but she didn’t really care. She was most productive at night, so did it matter if she walked into school with only three hours of sleep under her belt every day? Of course not. She tried not to stay up past 3am anyway, although some people (Sayo) did not think this was good in the first place. (“That is not a proper sleep! That’s an all nighter with a nap included!”) But it was all fine, as she made up for it on the weekends, where her schedule basically consisted of Roselia practice and sleep.

The reason she stayed up so long was for the brain waves she got. Her creative levels just weren’t the same at a perfectly respectable time of day, when she was acting like a normal human being, than when it was five hours till school began, she had an essay she hadn’t started due, she had gotten four hours of sleep in the past forty-eight hours, the levels of sugar in her blood were incredibly high and she had just spent the last hour crying over live videos of one of her favourite bands. That was when inspiration and passion burst from her veins and she wrote and wrote and wrote until her fingers were sore and she was starting to feel a tiny bit of regret as she watched the sun rise.

So to summarise, she was very familiar with her brain heading to a completely alternate dimension in the small hours. However, this did not mean she was ready to literally be visited by God one night.

Oh, she wished she was exaggerating. She really did. Frankly, she did not care about what was up there and she cared even less about what it was doing. Deep down in her heart, Yukina was probably a polytheist, just because the thought of multiple gods all fighting sounded very entertaining, but she ultimately put very little thought into these kinds of things. So her desire to have contact with any deities in any form was very, very low. But that was what had happened, one cold winter night.

She was wrapped up warm in her blankets, trying to think of ways to put all that had happened with Roselia recently into words that made her sound much smarter than she actually was. And then she’d looked out the window, and seen a giant, pink bear.

She had almost screamed. But years of practice of hiding her nocturnal behaviour from her parents told her not to. (It was kind of stupid anyway, considering her parents had to be very dense to not have figured out their daughter was a sleep deprived wreck.) Instead, she simply assumed she was hallucinating. That was, until the bear spoke.

**_Yukina Minato._ **

Oh god. It knew her name. Hallucination Bear knew her name, and it was at her window. Please let this not actually be real. Please let her be dreaming.

Yukina slapped her cheek and winced slightly in pain. Not a dream, then.

“Who _are_ you?” she asked, because she felt that this was a rather important question.

**_Me? That is not of much importance, though I do possess powers your kind would call god-like. But let us not talk about me. The important one is you, Yukina Minato._ **

“Uh… are you going to explain why?” Yukina asked, trying to take everything in stride, although it was becoming more and more difficult by the second. 

**_Simply put, someone you know is in love with you. Specifically, someone you would call a friend. Your job is to find out who this person is, by directly hearing the words from their own mouth, and bring them to me. For they are the chosen one - and the fate of the world rests in their hands._ **

**_If you do not find this secret admirer, the whole world will be completely obliterated._ **

**_The numbers on your wrist will turn green once the chosen one has been identified._ **

**_You have a week._ **

And then, just like that, Hallucination Bear was gone. 

Yukina stood up on shaky legs, moving to the window where the bear had been, resting her head against the cool glass as she tried to make sense of what on Earth had just happened.

After a while, she lifted her head, shook herself mentally, and climbed back into bed, praying to whoever was left up there to help her that this really was just a wild dream.

And then, for the first time in years, Yukina went to bed at midnight.

* * *

Monday 

To Yukina’s immense disappointment, the whole experience had been very real.

It was Monday morning, she was still exhausted, and she had a countdown on her wrist.

As in, literal moving numbers on her skin. In black ink. Counting down to, you guessed it, a week from now.

Yukina groaned. This was ridiculous. Not once in her life had she ever asked to be involved with the higher powers of the world, and yet, here was hard, cold evidence that Hallucination Bear was not a hallucination, and had really visited her last night.

...Maybe she could pass it off as a tattoo?

As she got dressed, ate breakfast and packed her bag, her mind was racing. She was barely able to perform any of these tasks properly due to the thoughts galloping around her head.

Because of this, she was running a little behind schedule, leading to her phone giving off a series of angry buzzes from where it sat on her desk. Sighing, Yukina looked at the twenty or so messages Lisa had sent her, asking where the hell she was. It was ten minutes after when they normally met on the street to go to school together.

Lisa. What to do about her? Yukina certainly hoped she wasn’t the friend… although it would make her search relatively short and simple. But things would be so awkward, because Yukina wouldn’t be able to love her back.

Aside from the whole ‘fate of the world’ stuff, this was the biggest issue. As far as she knew, Yukina had never loved anyone in her life. She didn’t have the time, too caught up in music and being angsty. But perhaps she did, because multiple sources (Lisa and the annoying gremlin she worked with) had told her that if she did like anyone, the last person to realise it would be herself.

Yukina liked to think she wasn’t that dense, but it was always a possibility. However, she was pretty certain she didn’t like Lisa…

The only thing she could do was _ask._ Get a simple answer, and either present Lisa as the chosen one or move onto other people.

Other people. Why was her only involvement with the divine one that so heavily involved other people? She was a goth introvert, and she liked it that way. The last thing she wanted to do was go around asking all the band girls if they had romantic feelings for her.

But she’d just have to worry about that later. For now, she would ask Lisa if she liked her, and do what she could with the response she was given.

God, this was a mess.

* * *

“Hey, Yukina, what took you so-”

“Lisa. Do you have a crush on me?”

Yukina watched in slight amusement as Lisa’s mouth fell open. Her expression frowned as she asked. “What? Did someone tell you that or something?”

Yukina thought about it, because in a roundabout way, someone actually had. “Sort of. It’s a very long story. But please answer the question.”

Lisa looked even more baffled, but she gave up after a few seconds and sighed. “No, I don’t. What’s this all about?”

As Lisa said the words, Yukina felt a slight jolt on her wrist, similar to an electric shock, but much less unpleasant. Pulling back her sleeve, she found that the numbers had turned red. After a couple of seconds, they went back to black, all the while continuing to tick down.

As Yukina stared in mild fascination, Lisa had seized her wrist and was looking at it in horror. “Yukina? What is this? Tell me, right now!”

“Well, last night I was songwriting, as usual, when a giant pink bear came to my window and told me that someone out of the small group of people I call my friends was in love with me, and that I had to find them before the week ended or the whole world would end. And no, I’m not making this up.” Yukina said.

“That…” Lisa said, before hesitating. She looked a little thrown off guard. “That is a lot to unpack.”

“So it is,” Yukina agreed, as they began to walk.

“But I know you’re not lying, cause the evidence is right there.” Lisa continued, pointing at her wrist.

Yukina frowned. “Oh, so you’re saying that if the numbers weren’t there you wouldn’t believe me?”

“I mean… it is a little far-fetched.” Lisa shrugged. “It’s good you have some physical proof, because really, who would believe you without it?”

“You’re being really helpful, Lisa.” Yukina said through gritted teeth.

“Okay, okay, I’ll play along. I guess we gotta find this person, huh? Like I said, it’s not me, but if you wanna take me out on a fancy date I would not be opposed.”

Despite what Lisa said, Yukina strongly felt she was not playing along at all. “I’m not taking you anywhere. But…” She paused. “Do you really think that’s the solution? Asking people on dates? I only have a week, remember?”

“Hmm, I guess…” Lisa looked like she was genuinely thinking, which was good. “I mean, you can’t exactly go around straight up asking everyone the way you did for me. Depends who it is, you know? Like, can you imagine Rinko’s reaction? Even if she didn’t like you.”

“You may have a point,” Yukina said, her mind full of visions containing Rinko passing out on the studio floor and having to be stretchered away. “But that means I have to ask… how many people on dates?”

“Well, the bear said it’s someone _you_ would consider a friend, right? And, let’s be honest, you’re not the most sociable person, so the list isn’t that long. Although you are pretty friendly with loads of the band girls now… aw, I’m so proud.”

“Be quiet.” Yukina groaned. “How many friends do I even have?”

“Well, all of Roselia, surely, and then… hmm, you know all the vocalists quite well, don’t you? You’re always talking to Kasumi, and then Kokoro seems insistent on being your friend, plus you can’t not be friends with Aya. That’s just cruel. And last of all, there’s your bromance thingy with Ran. You know, I genuinely wouldn’t be surprised if it was her. It’s like, her life’s goal to be your rival.”

“Oh, I don’t want it to be her.” Yukina said painfully. “I don’t want it to be anyone! This is too complicated. I don’t even know if I like girls and yet all my friends are girls…”

“Hmm, funny coincidence.” Lisa said, with a massive grin on her face.

“Don’t say another word. Just because I confided in you doesn’t mean you have a free license to tease me.”

“But Yukinaaaa, when will I ever get an opportunity as golden as this? Some bear-like deity literally told you to get your own harem. That’s just hilarious.” 

Yukina gave her her best death stare. Which to her credit, was quite scary. She practised it in the mirror often. 

Lisa crumbled. “Fine. Serious help time. I mean, if I were you, I’d start with Roselia. We have practice today, right?”

Yukina nodded, even though she felt like letting out a scream. 

“Well I guess you’ll have to… make the rounds then.”

Yukina sighed. “This is going to be _so_ awkward.”

Lisa gave her a comforting shoulder pat. “Maybe so, but look on the bright side. I’m bringing cookies today!”

“Lisa?”

“Yes?”

“You are aware that this time, just this time, your baking will do absolutely nothing to make the atmosphere more calm or relaxed?”

“...Yes.”

A long pause.

“You still want them though, don’t you?”

“Yes I do. Bring your biggest batch.”

* * *

Yukina was zoning out in English class and participating in the much more fun activity of thinking of excuses for not having her essay due next period when Lisa poked her in the back.

“What?” she asked, after the fifth time.

Lisa rolled her eyes. “Finally, you turned around! I was just gonna say, I think we should tell Sayo.”

Yukina frowned. “But we are, aren’t we? At practice.”

Lisa shook her head. “Yeah, I know, but I mean before that. Fill her in like you did for me.”

Yukina didn’t really want to involve anyone too deeply. It was an embarrassing and stupid situation and she would look ridiculous enough asking every band girl who breathed if they had a crush on her. She didn’t need to start preaching about Hallucination Bear on top of all that.

On the other hand, it was just Sayo. And Sayo had a pretty good track record of keeping Lisa’s teasing in check, the latter being something Yukina felt she was going to get very tired of very quickly. And who knows, maybe she would even give Yukina some good advice (even though Lisa described her as ‘the dictionary definition of disaster lesbian’). It wouldn’t hurt to involve her, in any case.

“Fine. We’ll tell her.” Yukina said, about to turn back round when she noticed Lisa pulling out her phone. “...What are you doing?”

“Texting Sayo to ask if she has a crush on you.” Lisa said. “It would be a bit awkward if she did.”

“Yes, but also helpful. Remember the whole reason I’m doing this?” Yukina asked. “And put your phone away when you’re done.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that… wonder what the hell this chosen one girl’s gonna do? If anything?” Lisa asked, visibly sending the text to Sayo but then opening up some sort of mobile game. There was no hope with some people. “For some reason I don’t buy into this whole world ending thing.”

Yukina had to admit it was a pretty strange turn of events, but Hallucination Bear had seemed real enough (despite Yukina’s name for it). Hopefully saving the world would just be a small job that could be done within the hour. She didn’t want any of her friends turning into generic YA protagonists, after all.

“Let’s just find out who it is first. I’m still having trouble believing this whole situation.” Yukina sighed.

“Hmm… I guess we should focus on that. So, do you think it’s Ako or Rinko?”

“I hope not,” Yukina said darkly. “That would put a strain on our band’s atmosphere, not to mention I can’t see either of them as chosen ones.”

“Hmph, try to have some sympathy! I get that this whole predicament sucks, but there’s some poor soul out there who fell for you and is now gonna have to save the world, or whatever.”

“I know. That’s why I said I hoped it wasn’t Ako or Rinko.”

Lisa frowned. “No you didn’t. You said you hoped it wasn’t them because you didn’t believe in their abilities in saving the world.”

“What’s the difference?”

“My version sounds nicer.”

“Doesn’t it always?”

Lisa sighed. “Whatever. Look, here’s the plan: practice isn’t till 4:30, so we get there early, along with Sayo. We fill her in, ask her who she thinks it could be, and go from there. Then, when Ako and Rinko come in, you try and find out if it’s them. I mean, we’ll figure out how to do that with Sayo. Alright?”

“Sure,” Yukina said, already dreading the prospect of having to ask her trusty bandmates if they had romantic feelings for her. Only recently had she stopped being an overdramatic fool, making things considerably better for the band’s atmosphere. Now, she was going to ruin it all again.

“Ooh, Sayo’s replied!” Lisa said. “Anddd she doesn’t like you. Thank god!”

“Yes, that’s good,” Yukina said, ignoring the way her stomach fell slightly. Great, now this thing would take even longer…

Then a sudden thought entered her head. “Wait, why is Sayo texting you at this time?” she asked. “Isn’t she on the disciplinary committee?”

“Hmph, how come you know that? You’re so unobservant. It took you like, five months to notice I joined the dance club even after I showed you my routines.” Lisa whined.

“I thought you were just going through a phase,” Yukina said absentmindedly. “And I pay much better attention to others now than I did a couple of years ago. You know that.”

“Okay, true,” Lisa conceded, “and to answer your question, I have no clue. I have gotten replies from her a couple times in school before… maybe she hides in the school council room?”

“Maybe she’s a secret delinquent,” Yukina said lightly.

Lisa’s eyebrows shot up. “Did you just make a joke?” she asked. “Like, an actual joke?”

“I can, occasionally,” Yukina said, even though both of them knew that wasn’t true. “And it helps me deal with the predicament I’m in. Aoba-san once told me she ‘dabs away the pain’. I am starting to see what she means now.”

“Awww, Yukina, there’s no need to be stressed!” Lisa said. At Yukina’s look, she faltered. “I mean, there kinda is, but I’m sure we’ll get this all sorted out. Okay?” Lisa said, and Yukina nodded.

Lisa winced, tapping at her phone. “Ah, Sayo seems a little confused… you’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”

“Me? I thought it was both of us!” Yukina protested.

“And I thought you ‘didn’t need my help’...” Lisa said mockingly.

Yukina glared and turned back around.

* * *

At four o’ clock, Yukina and Lisa opened the door to the studio they had booked, only to be faced with all five feet and three inches of Sayo Hikawa, folding her arms and looking down at them.

“Um… hey Sayo!” Lisa said tentatively.

“Good afternoon, Imai-san.” Sayo said, her eyebrows furrowed so deeply Yukina was sure she would have a permanent unibrow after today. “Would you perhaps like to explain why you called me to the studio early? Or, I don’t know, why you sent _that_ text?”

“What I want to know is why you were on your phone. I thought you represented Hanasakigawa?” Yukina asked.

“That… that is completely beside the point!” Sayo spluttered. “I get better grades than you, in any case.”

“Yukina,” Lisa said. “I think you and Sayo gotta do that thing where you like, you know, telepathically communicate while looking deep into each other’s eyes, or else I think Sayo’s brain will explode.”

Yukina wanted to say that Sayo’s brain was probably going to explode no matter how she explained the situation, but when Sayo gave her a burning look that suggested she was going to throttle Yukina at any given moment, she decided it wouldn’t be a good idea.

Instead she said: “I think it would be best if you sat down.”

Sayo loomed closer, looking into her eyes for another full five seconds, before striding to the other side of the studio, picking up the one and only spare chair (on the verge of collapse) and throwing herself onto it. “I have sat down,” she announced, as she refolded her arms.

Yukina then realised that she would quite like to sit down as well, but she had no place to, so she simply walked closer to Sayo and mimicked her arm folding. 

“I was song-writing last night when a giant pink bear came to my window, essentially told me it was God, as well as that one of my friends was in love with me and I had to find out who they were within a week or else the world would end, basically.” Yukina said, pulling down her sleeve a little to show Sayo the wretched countdown.

Sayo’s face contorted into a wide range of colourful expressions, with some highlights being confusion, panic, anger, more confusion, the kind of look she gave Hina when she saw her about to open her mouth in public, something similar to the verge of tears, and sheer confusion. Finally, she leaned back in her chair (which gave a dangerous creak), her mouth wide open.

“Everything alright, Sayo?” Lisa asked, still looking nervous.

Sayo’s mouth flapped open and closed like a fish. “The numbers… they’re moving…”

Yukina glanced at her wrist again. “They are indeed,” she noted mildly.

Sayo still seemed to be completely flabbergasted, her words coming out of her mouth like she was speaking a foreign language for the first time. “Minato-san, how… how are you so _calm_ about all of this?”

“Well, to be honest it isn’t ideal, but I’ll just have to find this person and… prevent the end of the world, hopefully.” she said. “Really, how bad can the end of the world be?”

Now Sayo was looking at _her_ like she was Hina. (To clarify, this was not a good thing.) “Have you ever opened any religious book in your life?”

“Um, no.” Yukina replied. “But what do they know, anyway? They’re just books.”

Lisa gave a low whistle. “Yikes, do not let, like, half the world’s population hear you say that.”

Sayo waved dismissively. “Never mind that. You don’t need religion to understand that the end of the world is, you know, quite a major issue.”

“Well I’m still trying to prevent it, aren’t I?” Yukina fired back.

“By… finding out who this person is?” Sayo asked.

Lisa nodded. “Yeah. We were thinking of asking Ako and Rinko once they arrived.”

“Oh, this will be a fun practice,” Sayo muttered darkly. “I should just invite Hina to add to the fun.”

“Well, neither of us like it either, Sayo,” Yukina said harshly, “but this is the situation I’m in. Lisa thought you would help, so will you?”

Sayo folded her arms even more tightly, if that was possible. “Do I have a choice?”

Yukina and Lisa stared back at her.

Sayo groaned. “I don’t, do I? Well, I think the best course of action would be to-”

“Sorry we’re late!” a hurried voice gasped out as it pushed its way into the studio. “Ako-chan had to stay back to talk to her teacher… we lost track of time.”

“It’s not an issue,” Yukina began, but then Sayo barged her way back into the conversation.

“Shirokane-san. Do you have, ah, romantic feelings for Minato-san?”

Rinko looked at Sayo, then Yukina, then Lisa, then Yukina, then Sayo, Yukina again, Sayo briefly, before once more focusing her gaze on Yukina.

And then she collapsed backwards.

It was lucky Ako was there to catch her.

* * *

“I am deeply sorry, Shirokane-san,” Sayo said, for the tenth time in as many minutes.

“Please don’t worry, Hikawa-san…” Rinko replied for the tenth time in as many, well, you get it. “I was just a little shocked.”

“Yeah! Why _did_ you ask that Sayo-san?” Ako said.

“It’s a long and boring story,” Yukina said quickly before Sayo could open her mouth, even as she realised that Ako would find her current situation the complete opposite of boring. “But Rinko, I don’t mean to put too much pressure on you. However, I do need an answer to the question Sayo asked.”

Rinko’s face became dusted pink, and she quickly covered it with her hands. “I… don’t know.” she squeaked out after a while.

Yukina felt nothing on her wrist.

“What do you mean, you don’t know?” Yukina said. Surely you either liked someone or you didn’t?

“Heeeeey, Yukina, easy,” Lisa said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Not everyone definitely knows whether or not their feelings are romantic. Your admirer, be it Rinko or anyone else, may not be at that stage where they can give you a definite answer.”

“Well then they’d better hurry up,” Yukina muttered. Lisa sighed.

“Well, if Rin-rin doesn’t know for sure, then maybe she’d figure out her feelings on a date?” Ako said, as all the other members of Roselia turned to her. “What? Most people who go on first dates haven’t even met the person yet, or they’re just gonna willing to get to know the person more to see if there are any sparks there! That’s the whole reason first dates exist.”

“Udagawa-san does have… a point.” Sayo agreed, although it looked like it caused her pain to do so.

“But on the other hand, both parties have to be open to the possibility of a romantic relationship. I mean, I dunno how you feel about that, Yukina-san…” Ako said, and Sayo and Lisa both shot her concerned glances too.

“Well,” Yukina began. “Rinko, I’m going to be honest. The question of whether or not you like me is less because of me wanting to date someone and more because of… the fate of the world.”

Rinko and Ako both gasped, Ako also exclaiming “The fate of the world? That’s so _cool,_ Yukina-san!” until Sayo glared at her.

“So if we were, theoretically, to go on a date, you would have to consider the fact that there may be absolutely no way I could return your feelings. If you do have feelings. But if we do go on a date, I promise I will explain it to you.” Yukina said.

“And if she did actually like you, she wouldn’t realise. But that’s just a general thing anyone who likes her needs to know,” Lisa smirked, and Sayo glared at her too.

Rinko smiled. “I’m kind of confused… actually, very confused, but if we went on a casual date… then I think I could handle it?”

“That’s a great idea!” Ako said. “Just a couple of gals being pals!” 

Yukina heard Lisa snort behind her.

Rinko then whispered something in Ako’s ear, and Ako nodded enthusiastically. “Perhaps… Ako-chan could come too?”

Sayo frowned. “Well, that would hardly be romantic.”

“Hm, but we don’t know if this is gonna be a romantic date yet, right? Would having Ako there calm your nerves, Rinko?” Lisa asked.

“Yes… it would help.” Rinko said.

“I don’t mind if she comes,” Yukina said. Which was true. In all honesty, she was pleased, as it would give her the chance to find out if Ako was the friend too. (She still hoped it was neither Ako nor Rinko, though.)

“I won’t interrupt you guys unless I need to! I’ll just chill in the background.” Ako said.

Sayo frown deepened. “So you’re going to spy?”

“You should come too, Sayo-san!” Ako replied.

Sayo’s mouth fell open. “Absolutely _not.”_

“Oh come on, Sayo!” Lisa said. “The date would be in a public place. You can’t leave Ako all by herself.”

“Yeah, stranger danger and all that,” Ako added.

“Well then why don’t you accompany her, Imai-san?” Sayo asked.

“Because, no offence Sayo, but if you hadn’t asked Rinko if she liked Yukina without warning, we wouldn’t be in this whole awkward situation.” Lisa said.

“Lisa is right,” Yukina said.

“Well, my apologies Imai-san, but we’d be in this awkward situation no matter what I did!” Sayo shot back.

“...Sayo is also right.” Yukina said. Her two friends kept shooting each other looks, though. Yukina was starting to feel very tired.

“I’m still confused,” Rinko said softly. “I’m not annoyed with Hikawa-san, though…”

“That’s not really what we’re talking about.” Yukina said. “How about this, Rinko? We go on this date, and you figure out if you like me, and I will also explain why I need to know. Ako and Sayo are free to come too. Is that alright?”

Rinko nodded. “Sounds… good to me.”

“Well, that’s sorted. Plus, it is nice to spend time with members outside practice, regardless of the situation.” Yukina added.

Lisa grinned at her. “Awww you’re so sweet, Yukina!”

“Well, this is all very lovely, but I don’t remember agreeing to accompany Minato-san and Shirokane-san on their… date.” Sayo said, her arms refolded.

“I want you there,” Yukina said.

All four pairs of eyes swivelled towards her. “What? Why?” Sayo asked.

Would ‘The concept of you and Ako spending an evening together spying on Rinko and I is incredibly hilarious’ be a valid answer? Yukina decided it wouldn’t, so she settled with: “As Ako comforts Rinko, you comfort me during these harsh times of intense emotional turmoil.”

The room had gone silent again. Yukina had no idea why. She had only come up with the answer on the spot, and had been trying not to laugh as she said it.

But then Sayo let out a small smile. “Alright. I’ll do it.”

“Whew! Glad that’s settled!” Lisa said. “All we need to do now is work out where and when.”

“Oh. Ideally tomorrow.” Yukina said.

“Tomorrow?!” Ako exclaimed. Rinko looked mildly perturbed.

“Well, I said it was important that I know if you like me or not, didn’t I?” Yukina said defensively. She was starting to understand why Sayo folded her arms so much.

“It’s okay. I can make it tomorrow… but may I suggest the place?” Rinko asked shyly.

“Of course.” Yukina nodded. “It’s your date too, and I don’t have any ideas.”

“Right.” Rinko took a deep breath. “Well, I enjoy going to the arcade, a lot…”

“The arcade?” Yukina asked. She was a little doubtful, but then and again, the more comfortable Rinko was, the more likely she would be able to give a proper answer, surely?

“Never mind. Let’s do it.” she said.

“Woo! Arcade date time!” Ako yelled.

“Yeah, it’s a shame I won’t be there,” Lisa said. “It’s alright, though. I have plans of my own! You guys can sort out your love issues by yourself.”

Sayo groaned deeply.

“Well, then, now we are done with that, shall we begin practice?” Yukina asked.

Sayo practically ran to her guitar. _“Please.”_

“Yeah, guess I’d better get this old girl out her case, huh~” Lisa said, picking up her bass. Ako and Rinko both gave Yukina confident nods. Well, Ako’s was more her almost ripping her head out its socket while Rinko was the tiniest rotation, but Yukina had spent enough time with Roselia at this point to know what they both meant.

It had been quite a day. She had been visited by a magical bear (although that was technically yesterday), forced to question whether she was in fact attracted to girls, also forced to make things awkward between her and literally anyone she called a friend, had a fainting bandmate in rehearsal, and more. At this point, she should be exhausted, and yet all Yukina wanted to do was sing. 

Hallucination Bear could wait.

She looked at all of her bandmates again in turn.

“Let’s begin.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the stupidest thing I've ever written. I hope you enjoyed it!


	2. Rinko

Tuesday 

Today was the day of her first date with Rinko. As well as any human being, ever.

Ako had, for once, said something wise. First dates were a time to realise feelings, for new attractions to begin. Her and Rinko were just two girls trying to figure out their feelings towards each other, with a bit of divine intervention sprinkled within.

Yukina was fairly certain she did not like Rinko, or anyone, but what if she really was That Dense? Spending some quality time alone with her bandmate would help her realise if she did actually harbour romantic feelings for her. And suppose Rinko was the chosen one. Then Yukina probably wouldn’t be opposed to a relationship with her, and they’d be saving the world at the same time. Two birds with one stone.

These were her thoughts as she stood outside the arcade. She was the first to arrive, which made sense, seeing as she was half an hour early for their meet-up time at five. Even so, she would have expected at least Sayo ‘On time is late’ Hikawa to be here already.

In fact, the first arrival was a complete surprise. Ako bounded up to her, wearing what looked like a pair of plastic wings on her back, only a few minutes later. “Yukina-san!”

“Ako?” Yukina asked. “You’re early. I thought you would have come with Rinko.”

“Nah, sis made me do all the chores cause I gamed for too long over the weekend, apparently. I told Rin-rin and she said she’d be fine getting here!” Ako said. “Plus, my gamer spirit was just calling to me, and I couldn’t wait to come, so I told sis we were meeting a bit earlier. In fact, she only let me out cause I said it was for Roselia. Thanks to you, I got to escape! You’re my hero, Yukina-san!”

“...Right,” Yukina replied, registering roughly 5% of the words Ako had said. They all seemed sweet enough, though. “And the wings?”

“Oh they just make me look soooo cool, don’t they? I wanted Rin-rin to add wings to the first Roselia costumes, but Sayo-san said no.” Ako said, faltering slightly. Yukina sent a mental thank you to Sayo, wherever she was.

“Whatever you say.” Yukina said. “I appreciate you being here, and I’m sure Rinko does too.”

“Of course! I’ll always be here for my trusty comrades,” Ako said with a mock salute. “Plus, this all sounds so epic! I mean, you said the fate of the world relies on this one date, right?”

“More or less, yes.”

“See! I always said Roselia was the coolest! It doesn’t get much cooler than that!” Ako said, nodding as if her words were gospel. Yukina offered a tight smile as encouragement.

In the distance, she could see the outlines of what looked like Sayo and Rinko. Since when did they walk together? She didn’t have long to think about it, however, because Ako had seen them too, but was now glaring up at her.

“Yukina-san,” she said in her serious voice.

“Hm? Yes, Ako?” Yukina replied.

“Rin-rin seemed kinda nervous when we were on NFO last night. She really likes you, even if it’s not romantic. So just… be nice to her, okay?”

“Why would I do anything different?” Yukina asked.

Ako grinned. “I know you wouldn’t! But I mean, obviously Rin-rin is super cool, but sometimes I forget she’s older than me… if that makes sense.”

“Sort of,” Yukina said. “I mean, not really, but I understand what you are trying to say. You want me to be gentle with her, yes?”

“You got it!” Ako said. “But you’ll be fine. Rin-rin is the greatest wizard of our time and you’re the most powerful songstress. In your hands, the world will be just fine!”

“Right. Got it.” Yukina said, and that seemed to be enough to satisfy Ako, because she immediately dashed off towards the now much clearer Sayo and Rinko.

“Minato-san. Good evening.” Sayo said firmly. She still looked slightly pissed off. Rinko, on the other hand, looked on the verge of passing out.

Ako’s words were starting to make a little more sense now.

“Good evening. I’m not very familiar with these kinds of places, so Rinko, I was hoping you could help show me around? If it’s not too much trouble, of course.” she said.

Rinko shook her head aggressively. “O-Of course not! I was thinking that… we could go to the more relaxed games first?”

“That would be lovely.” Yukina said. Behind Rinko, Ako shot her a thumbs up, falling into step with Sayo some distance behind them.

The arcade was a lot busier than Yukina would have expected on a Tuesday night. Knowing how Rinko was with crowds, Yukina shot her a concerned glance, but Rinko seemed to be in her element, the amount of people there not affecting her at all. In fact, she was starting to talk a little faster, like how she done when they had all played that cursed online game together.

“There are a lot of claw machines over there… oh, and that’s the gambling section. I swore a promise with Ako-chan that we would never set foot there. But there’s still racing games, pinball, all those violent games, rhythm and dance games, and more…”

Yukina had to admit she was impressed. She was never one for games, let alone arcades, but the place was massive, and there was something in every corner. Someone in every corner, too. The owners of this place had to be rich.

Although she wasn’t as much of a fan of the neon lights, loud noises and constant yelling. She much preferred quiet, relaxed places where she could think. But this was for Rinko’s sake, and none of these things seemed to bother her. As long as she got her all important answer, Yukina was content.

And seeing Rinko get passionate was quite cute, too.

“How about we try those racing ones first?”

Rinko frowned. “Racing? I didn’t know you were the type, Yukina-san…”

“I’m not,” Yukina said. “But it doesn’t hurt to try out new things, right?”

Yukina was pleased to see she made Rinko smile with that. “No, of course not. I think there’s a game even you would have heard of.”

And that was how Yukina found herself standing in front of two bright red chairs, the bright words of ‘Mario Kart Arcade GP’ emblazoned above the screens. She did vaguely know of the franchise. She remembered it being very popular along with virtual tennis when she was younger.

When she turned around, she could have sworn she’d seen Ako’s face drooping in what looked like jealousy.

“This game isn’t too hard, Yukina-san…” Rinko said. “You just turn the wheel to steer and mash the button when you need boosts. There’s also another button for items.”

“Right.” Yukina said. “Well then, shall we?” 

Rinko nodded, and they both sat down in their respective chairs. Their money inserted, Yukina was starting to enjoy herself choosing her character (Mario, because she figured her best bet for winning was to play as the franchise mascot) and voting for a track (the same one Rinko picked), when suddenly the screen took a picture of her face.

“Excuse me?” she half-yelled; she heard laughter that sounded a lot like Ako’s (and maybe even Sayo’s). “What is the meaning of this?”

Rudely enough, Rinko was also stifling a giggle. “When we’re racing, I’ll be able to see your face when I’m near your kart, and vice versa. I quite like your picture. It shows your focused nature.”

“Hmph…” Yukina muttered. She had already chosen a character, so why did her face need to be displayed to anyone who walked past? Wasn’t this some sort of public violation?

“They get deleted right after you play,” Rinko said quickly, seeming to sense her discomfort. 

Yukina nodded. “It’s alright.” She had a new goal now; if she couldn’t stop the wretched company who had made the machines from violating her privacy, she could at least beat them at their stupid game.

Yukina leaned forward in her seat.

The race began. Rinko clearly had experience with this game, as she immediately leapt ahead of at least three CPUs. Yukina, however, had immediately crashed into a wall.

“I don’t understand. I steered the wheel in the direction of the turn.” Yukina said. 

“How hard did you steer?” Rinko asked.

“With everything I had, of course. I’m not going to let this machine win.” Yukina said.

She could almost hear Rinko’s pained expression. “Maybe try being a bit more gentle? You don’t need to do a full 180 turn.”

“Understood.” Yukina said. She tried to take Rinko’s advice to heart; after all, she was in 1st by a considerable amount already. She didn’t mind. She didn’t want to beat Rinko, however, it was necessary that she crush every single one of the stupid CPUs and their overpowered items and the illegal photo taking company they came from under her heel.

Two minutes later, and she finished dead last.

“Another round?” she said immediately.

Rinko gave her a sympathetic smile, pointing to the large queue behind them.

Yukina sighed, getting out of her chair. She knew when it was necessary to admit defeat, but that didn’t mean she had to like it.

“Is there anything else you’re interested in?” Rinko asked.

Yukina focused her attention on the claw machines. They were infamous for being difficult; if she could win something from one, she would feel a lot better about herself. “Let’s do those,” she said, pointing at them.

“Alright,” Rinko said. “Is there anything in particular you like the look of?”

Yukina surveyed the machines. She barely recognised half of the plushies, and the rest she had no emotional connection to. That was what she got for locking herself in a self-made music cage for all her teenage life, she supposed. But then she heard a small gasp next to her, and saw Rinko’s eyes flicker towards a plushie that Yukina vaguely remembered as something from that Neo Fantasy game.

 _Now_ she knew what she was getting.

Wordlessly, she made her way to the machine it was in, inserting her coins. The machine whirred into life, lights flickering on and the claw creaking. Yukina rubbed her palms together. She was the leader of one of the most popular high school bands in Japan. Well, maybe not Japan, but they got big crowds at their concerts, alright? No claw machine was going to outdo her, especially not when she was fighting for her bandmate… friend.

She held the stick in a death grip, moving the claw closer to the desired plush. She wasn’t sure if Rinko knew what she was going for. In a way, she hoped she hadn’t realised. She wanted to surprise her.

But the machine would not let her have her way. She managed to grab hold of the leg of the plush, but it fell halfway down as she was pulling it up. Great. Now her surprise was ruined and she had been outsmarted by technology. Again.

Wordlessly, she put more money into the machine. Rinko had shuffled a little closer, clasping her hands to her chest.

This time, she straight up failed. The metal shine of the claw practically winked at her, taunting her as it moved up empty handed. A bead of sweat rolled down her face, and Yukina had no idea if it was from the stuffy heat of the arcade or her own nervousness to get this right.

“Yukina-san, it’s fine…” Rinko said. “I can probably buy it somewhere.”

“One more try.” Yukina said, jamming her money into the slot. This time, she would not fail. Not with Rinko’s longing expression burned into her mind.

She maneuvered the claw with a little more grace this time, constantly casting her gaze from the plush to the claw like she was watching a tennis game. She needed to move it more to the left, something she had missed the last two times. She flicked the stick in the desired direction. Now it was perfectly positioned above the plush. All she had to do was move it down - open the claw - down a little more - and yes! She had gotten it!

She couldn’t resist a triumphant smirk as she watched the _stupid_ claw rise and deposit the toy into the collection area. She pulled it out for Rinko, who was doing a very bad job at hiding her delight.

“Thank you, Yukina-san,” she said, a giant smile still on her face, and Yukina suddenly realised that they were standing very close to each other, and Rinko was beaming at her like she was the sun, and that Yukina had just done something kind and selfless for her.

If they were in a movie, this would be The Moment of the date. The kiss. The point where she got the girl. The part everyone would remember and quote.

But this was not a movie, so when Rinko stepped back to regain her personal space, Yukina didn’t feel disappointed.

“It’s nothing,” Yukina said, although technically it had been 300 yen. “Now, is there anywhere you’d like to visit?”

“I think I’m quite hungry,” Rinko said.

* * *

As it turned out, the arcade food was actually of surprising quality. Yukina had not expected this. Then and again, despite her many grievances with the games they had, the arcade in general was a much better establishment than Yukina had anticipated.

Even better, they had spotted Ako and Sayo sitting at one of the booths, and quickly crowded in to join them, Rinko taking Ako’s side and Yukina Sayo’s. All their preferred foods and drinks were in front of them, (including Yukina’s beloved sweetened coffee) and now Ako was blabbing stories of how her and Sayo had fared in the ‘violent’ section.

“Sayo-san’s actually good at like, shooting up zombies and stuff, but she keeps trying to save all the infected citizens! Like, they’re infected! They’re gonna wake up and try to kill you in two seconds. And when adding in the time limit, it’s just like, we haven’t got time to save everyone, you know?”

“That is a very closed mindset. Virtual or not, we should show compassion to all, and try to help all who were affected in the zombie attacks.”

“Buuuut Sayo-san, that’s not even the point of the game! You just gotta shoot up all the zombies. And it’s not worth the money if I don’t get on the leaderboard!”

Yukina and Rinko listened while exchanging slightly exasperated looks. Sayo looked like she wanted to plant her face into her bowl of fries, most likely desperate for a change of subject.

Which was probably why she asked: “So, Minato-san, have you explained your whole… ah, predicament, to Shirokane-san yet?”

“No,” Yukina said. “I will, but I must ask you this first, Rinko. Do you like me? In a romantic sense?”

Rinko stared at her food for a while, before answering: “...No, I don’t.”

Yukina felt the same electric jolt; she ripped down her sleeve and saw the countdown was once again red.

Rinko had sorted out her feelings, then.

She quickly pulled her sleeve up again, shooting Ako, who’s mouth was wide open, a harsh glare while gesturing towards Rinko, who looked like she wanted to continue.

“I’ve enjoyed myself a lot today! I really have!” Rinko said. “And I have had some sort of feelings towards you for a long time… but I was struggling to work out what they were. So I went home and thought about it last night, and I came here today… and I realised that you’re my friend. And I admire you. But I wouldn’t date you.” Rinko said confidently, before blushing and covering her mouth. “Um, no offence!”

“None taken,” Yukina said calmly. “You should know that I also treasure you as a friend.”

Rinko blushed even more. Feelings or not, she was still very easily flustered, Yukina mused.

But yet there was still more to do. “Ako,” she said. “I’m sorry, but I must ask you the same question.”

“Huh? Why me?” Ako asked. Yukina gave her the same glare. “Fine. I don’t! I do wanna know what that thing on your wrist was, though!”

Same jolt. Same sleeve-pull, and the same red numbers, except Yukina left her arm out on the table for Ako and Rinko to see.

“That’s so cool!” Ako said, as the numbers faded back to black. “Yukina-san, you have a magic tattoo in the two greatest colours!” She then frowned. “But what does this have to do with me and Rin-rin liking you? And the fate of the world?”

“I am mildly disturbed at how easily you accepted the possibility of me literally having a magic tattoo, but moving on from that,” Yukina said, taking a long sip of coffee before she continued. “On Sunday night, I was visited by God.”

Rinko and Ako’s mouths fell open. Even Sayo looked impressed.

“You mean like… _God_ God?” Ako asked.

“Well, something like that,” Yukina said.

“Did you see like, all the lights and stuff? Were there angels?” Ako faltered. “Wait, what religion do you even believe in?”

“None of them,” Yukina said. “But after I was visited by God, I got this,” she gestured to her numbers, “and I can’t explain that.” 

“What did… God say?” Rinko asked.

“From how I remember it, God is a giant pink magical bear who said that one of my friends likes me, and I have to find out who it is before the week is over.” Yukina said. “Or… the world will end. Hence the countdown, and why it went red. It isn’t either of you.”

Ako looked amazed. “That’s crazy, but in a good way! I’m sure you’ll stop the end of the world!”

“Thank you?” Yukina muttered.

“So who else have you asked?”

“Just myself and Imai-san,” Sayo said.

“So… it’s no one in Roselia?” Rinko said. 

Yukina shook her head. “No.”

“Then who is it?” Rinko asked.

“Who is the first person not in Roselia who comes to mind when you think ‘friend’?” Sayo asked.

Yukina thought about it. “Toyama-san,” she said.

Ako raised her eyebrows. “Huh? Really?”

Rinko, however, nodded thoughtfully. “I have seen you talk to her a lot before.”

“Indeed. And I do appreciate her company. However… could she really be the chosen one?” Yukina wondered.

Ako shrugged. “Well, you have to exhaust all the possibilities, and you only have a week! Go for it! Maybe ask her on a date too!” 

“I feel like she would be the type to be very certain of her feelings. I can just ask, there’s no need for a date. But I would need to know where to find her after school…” Yukina sighed inwardly. This was all very complicated. She took another sip of her coffee.

“Oh… she normally goes to Ichigaya-san’s basement for practice in a place called Ryuuseiudo. I can give you an address?” Rinko offered.

“Thank you, Rinko. Although I do hope I won’t be intruding on anything.” Yukina said.

“I’ll tell them you’re coming,” Rinko said.

Yukina smiled. “Well, if everyone is done with their food, we might be able to do something else together.”

“Heck yeah!” Ako said. “Neither me or Rin-rin have played any of the rhythm games yet and those are our favourites.”

“Shall we, then?” Yukina asked, standing up.

Rinko nodded enthusiastically.

* * *

Yukina was starting to slightly regret her decision to try out the rhythm games with Ako and Rinko.

At first, Ako had suggested one of the dance machines, and Yukina had never rejected an offer so quickly in her life. There were other simple note games, but after seeing Rinko pick the highest difficulty and speed as her fingers moved so quickly it was like she was practically typing, Yukina quit after one game.

Plus, she was out of money. (Good arcade food did _not_ come cheap.)

As Ako slid in the money for another round of _Dance! Dance!! Mania!!!,_ Yukina felt Sayo’s presence beside her. “They certainly are… full of life, aren’t they?”

“So they are.” Yukina said. Secretly, she found the whole display quite endearing, but she wasn’t going to tell anyone that. “They are moving very quickly. Can’t they sense how hot it is in here?”

“I am rather burnt out too. I think we could both use some fresh air.” Sayo said, gesturing towards the door.

Yukina smiled. “Alright.”

They exited the arcade together, after telling Ako and Rinko where they were going, Yukina’s eyes finally getting a chance to relax. The only lights out here were soft streetlamps. And the wind on her face felt _divine._ (Haha! Now she couldn’t use that word without laughing. She hoped Hallucination Bear was proud.)

“There’s a small shop nearby. It sells cool drinks, if you want one?” Sayo asked.

“I need one,” Yukina half-rasped. Sure, she might have an aesthetic to maintain, but drinking coffee in that boiling arcade? Bad idea. _Baaaaad_ idea.

“Then let’s go,” Sayo said.

The walk was short, but Yukina soaked up the feeling. This part of town was quiet, and didn’t get most of the traffic from rush hour. As such, herself and Sayo were some of the only ones on the street, and she got to appreciate how pretty the urban environment could be when it wasn’t so full of… people.

Once they were in the shop, Yukina couldn’t stop watching Sayo. She seemed as if she was very familiar with the place, guiding Yukina to the right aisle for cold drinks and everything. But why would she be? Everyone in Roselia knew about Sayo’s secret NFO addiction, no matter how badly she tried to hide it, but was she really an arcade gamer too?

The question followed her once they were back out on the street and had found an isolated bench to sit on. She couldn’t help but ask: “Sayo, do you come here often?”

Sayo looked like she hadn’t been expecting her question, but answered nonetheless. “Hina was big on arcades when we were little, and…”

“And?” 

“Well, one thing I’ve found since our relationship improved is that we are now able to enjoy some things I thought were firmly in the past. It’s not a bad thing… far from it.” Sayo said, her voice growing quiet.

Yukina didn’t think of herself as a sap, but it was pleasant whenever Sayo talked about Hina. A year ago, that would have meant tears, frustration and anger. Now, they were finally like twins again. Yukina knew that it hadn’t been easy for either of them, so the fact that things had turned out positive did make her proud. Of course, she couldn’t say all this, but she kept the feeling close to her heart.

“It could hardly be a bad thing to reconnect, I tend to find.” Yukina said. “But Sayo. I hardly doubt you took me out the arcade to show off your knowledge of the local convenience store. Is there anything you wanted to talk about?”

Now, Sayo was looking right at Yukina. “Minato-san. I called you out here because… well, I wanted to apologise.”

“Whatever for?” Yukina asked.

“Yesterday’s practice. I felt that I reacted strongly. Truthfully, I was thrown off by Imai-san’s text, but even so, I failed to consider how you were feeling and instead made a fool of myself.” Sayo said.

“You did, a little,” Yukina conceded. “But it’s alright. You just reacted how most people would.”

“I’m still shocked at how composed you’re being throughout this.” Sayo said.

“If we’re being honest, then I should say that the incident made me get a good night’s sleep for once. Once I woke up, I felt ready to deal with the situation.” Yukina said.

“So you went to bed at midnight.” 

“Yes.”

“And woke up at 6 for school, I assume?”

“As I said, a good night’s sleep.”

“... I do worry about you, sometimes.”

“I’m fine,” Yukina said. “In any case, there’s no use panicking over the fact that I need to stop the end of the world, or whatever. Surely the best course of action would be to simply get on and stop it?”

“That’s what you’re doing, at least,” Sayo said. “And I have a feeling that things will turn out alright, if you’re the one stopping it.”

“Hm. I think this ‘end of the world’ thing may be nonsense, anyway,” Yukina said.

Sayo raised her eyebrows. “And why is that?”

“It revolves around my love life. Which doesn’t exist, if you haven’t noticed.”

Sayo laughed. “Perhaps this bear god is telling you to get one.”

“Perhaps.”

Yukina would be shocked no matter who the person was, but it was also strange finding out who _didn’t_ like her. Sitting here with Sayo, making jokes about her love life? This wouldn’t be something they would have done barely a few days ago.

It was curious. She said she didn’t like anyone, and yet with Sayo, it felt like a door being closed. One she hadn’t even known was open, but now it wasn’t, she wanted it back.

...She must be feeling dizzy.

“I don’t know what to say now,” Sayo said, bringing her back into reality. “I’ve done my dramatic apology, which is what I came out here for, but I don’t want to go back inside.”

“Neither do I,” Yukina said. As she looked for topics to talk about, her brain settled on one particular one. It was quite personal, but the mood felt honest. “Sayo. You don’t like me, but… do you like girls? In general?”

Sayo looked caught off guard by that one, her mouth open and her cheeks turned slightly red. 

“Now I must apologise for asking such a personal question.” Yukina said quickly. “It’s just, Lisa calls you a ‘disaster lesbian’, and I’ve never actually known if she’s joking or not.”

“Ahaha, well…” Sayo said. “Imai-san is right. About the lesbian part, at least. But why not just ask her if she was serious?”

“I’m not sure,” Yukina said. “I guess… maybe I’m confused myself? And I already know how Lisa realised, so I wanted to…”

“Hear from a second party.” Sayo finished.

“Essentially.”

“Well,” Sayo began. “I tried to deny it at first, but over time it became hard to ignore the fact that what other girls said about boys were… exactly how I felt about girls.”

“When was that?”

“Around when I was thirteen.”

“Is that when most people realise?” Yukina asked.

“Not necessarily. Only starting to work these things out at seventeen is perfectly normal.” Sayo said, before pausing. “...This is about you, right?”

Yukina nodded. “It’s been before this whole incident as well. But this thing has made me realise, I only really talk to girls. I don’t have an interest in boys. Not the way I think I’m supposed to.”

“What you’re saying is that because all your friends are girls, the chosen one has to be one? And that you don’t mind?” Sayo asked.

Yukina nodded. “If I was straight, wouldn’t I be hastening to tell everyone I asked that? Like, making it flat out clear I wasn’t interested in girls no matter what their answer was? But for some reason, the idea of a girl liking me doesn’t bother me at all. And I’m just thinking… it wouldn’t be so bad if I went out with one, properly. It feels a lot better than going out with a boy.”

“Do you want my advice?” Sayo asked.

“That’s kind of why I’m talking to you about this, Sayo.”

Sayo smiled. “Well then, I would say don’t stress too much about it. Seventeen is a good time to figure out who you like, but you shouldn’t push yourself so hard just trying to work out who you want to date. But… well, I must ask you a personal question now.”

“Go ahead,” Yukina said.

“Have you ever liked anyone?”

Yukina was about to answer no straight away, but the image of the door closing entered her mind yet again. 

“...No, I haven’t.” 

She was probably still just trying to come to terms with how she would know who did and didn’t like her. It wasn’t worth telling Sayo anyway.

“Well, then. For now, maybe just focus on trying to save the world? But if you ever get a crush on a girl, it’s kind of a giveaway that you’re not straight.” Sayo said.

“I’ll bear that in mind,” Yukina said. “Thank you, Sayo.”

"Anything for a friend.” Sayo replied simply. “And remember that whoever you turn out to be, Roselia and myself will always have your back.”

* * *

“So?” How did it go?” Lisa asked from across the balcony. 

“Neither of them like me,” Yukina said.

“Well, that’s good!” Lisa said, before frowning. “But also bad. Jeez, who are we gonna try next?”

“I was thinking of Toyama-san. I would call her a friend, after all, and I believe she would give me a direct answer.” Yukina replied.

“Yeah, Kasumi’s not really the type to hide her feelings, is she? She’s super cute,” Lisa sighed.

“Mm,” Yukina said.

Lisa peered across at her. “Hey. Something on your mind?”

“No,” Yukina said, as teal hair flashed across her brain. “I had a more enjoyable time than I was expecting, actually. It’s a shame you couldn’t come.”

“Ah, well, you know me, always busy,” Lisa said, even though Yukina couldn’t remember her having too much to do outside of Roselia and dance club, which Ako attended too. She was slightly suspecting that Lisa was up to something; after all, normally she would _die_ for Roselia group outings.

But Lisa could do whatever she wanted. Yukina wasn’t too bothered. “On another note, did you know that Sayo’s actually a lesbian?”

Lisa laughed. “Um, yeah? That’s why I keep calling her one?”

“Well, I didn’t,” Yukina said defensively. “But it’s good to know these things about our band members.”

“Sure it is,” Lisa said. “But we weren’t even talking about her, you know?”

“I know. But I brought her up anyway. If I didn’t, you might have started talking about what you were doing today, which isn’t really relevant to me.” Yukina said.

“Hmph. You’re so rude.” Lisa said, but she was still grinning. She looked like she was going to say something else, but a shout could be heard from her house, making her turn around. “Crap. My parents want me in bed. See you tomorrow, yeah?”

“Of course,” Yukina replied, closing her own balcony door.

She sat down on her own bed, already in pajamas herself. She was exhausted from the day, but her brain kept replaying bits of her conversation with Sayo in her mind.

Not that she objected to it. It was just a new feeling.

_I wanted to apologise._

_I have a feeling that things will turn out alright, if you’re the one stopping it._

_And remember that whoever you turn out to be, Roselia and myself will always have your back._

Two days had passed with no success, and yet Yukina went to bed feeling quite warm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In all honesty, this is probably the most serious chapter of the fic. I hope it at least made someone giggle a bit, though. 
> 
> (P.S: It's been a loooong time since I played arcade Mario Kart, so there may be inconsistencies.)


	3. Kasumi

Wednesday 

Yukina Minato did not like school.

It sucked up seven precious hours of the day, five days a week, almost every week of the year. If Yukina was a more proficient mathematician, she would calculate how many hours of her time school had taken from her. But as it stood, the mere thought of doing any more work than necessary outside of school made her want to cry.

If she had been given all those hours back, she would have made it to Future World Fes by the time she was fourteen. She could be world famous at this point. But right now, she was in class, songwriting and hoping that the teacher wouldn’t pick on her to answer a question. She was second most productive when she was supposed to be learning, but it was very hard to explain that to any figure of authority.

In a way, having the whole fate of the world in her hands was quite a welcome distraction. It was interesting, after all, and the only regrettable thing was that it was keeping her from her music. With a heavy heart, she had cancelled all of Roselia’s practices for the rest of the week, as she would be too busy chasing after potential suitors. Other than that, Yukina saw no drawbacks. There was no need to panic; the end of the world probably wasn’t even going to happen. And besides, Lisa had been right when she said she didn’t really have many friends outside of Roselia.

So today, she would visit Kasumi. Rinko had texted her the address of Ryuuseido before school that day, and now she was hiding her phone under her desk, squinting at it as she tried to work out how she would get there after school. It didn’t seem to be too far from Haneoka, but Yukina knew she would probably get lost anyway.

The bell for last period rang, and Yukina gulped. It was PE - her least favourite lesson - but this time she was absolutely dreading it.

They wore short sleeved shirts for PE. It would be impossible to hide the countdown.

But she could be smart sometimes. She had come up with a plan. She gathered up all her things as quickly as she could and dashed off to the bathroom. There, she ripped off her right shoe and sock and took a bandage out of her bag she had stolen from home, wrapping it around her foot and ankle as tightly as she could. She then stuffed her shoe and sock into her bag, zipped it up, and practised hobbling like she was actually injured, while glaring at the gossiping first years in the corner who were looking at her like she was the world's biggest idiot. Once she was satisfied, and enough time had passed, she made her way out of the bathroom.

She limped through the corridor for roughly three seconds until she felt her ankle give a dangerous twist and she was flying towards the ground at an alarming pace. Her cheek slapped against the floor, and now her ankle _actually_ hurt.

Perhaps this was karma? But she’d never normally go this far to skip even her most hated subject. It was just necessary this time!

She laid on the floor in self-pity for another few seconds until she heard a familiar voice.

“Yukina-chan? Are you alright?” Yukina looked up to see her saviour. Hina Hikawa peered back at her, bright eyes sparkling with concern. “That was a really nasty fall! And hey - why is there all that white stuff on your foot?”

“I injured myself yesterday,” Yukina said. “Look, aren’t you late for class? Go on without me.”

“Nuh uh! I gotta get you off the floor, at least. Sis would be mad at me if I let you die out here. Besides, I have PE next, and I hate PE!”

Oh, that was right. Hina was in her PE class. She was always flying about, being a health and safety risk. “Well then, could you grab my hand, please?”

“Sure thing!” Hina said, following her instruction and pulling her up to stand again. “Hey - why don’t you have a crutch?”

“I-”

“Never mind! You can just lean on me! I don’t mind!” Hina said.

Yukina allowed Hina to drag her along. With anyone else she would have felt bad, but Hina could do anything, and carried Yukina along with ease despite them being the same height. It added to Yukina’s story of being injured, too. Plus, her ankle was actually starting to throb a little after her fall.

“What on Earth is this?” their PE teacher asked, once they arrived for class. “Hikawa-san, Minato-san, you are both late!”

“Yeah, but like, Yukina-chan is suffering!” Hina said, gesturing towards Yukina’s foot.

Their PE teacher looked at Yukina’s bandage, which she had spent all of two minutes wrapping around her foot and was trailing off a little. It probably did not help that herself and Hina were her two least favourite students - Hina because she was far too enthusiastic, and Yukina for the opposite reason. She never actually said it, but it was obvious. “Do you have a note?”

Yukina was prepared for this. She produced an elegantly folded ‘doctor’s note’ from her pocket, written by Lisa.

_Minato-san had a nasty fall yesterday afternoon, and as such should not participate in any strenuous activity for two weeks._

_Signed, Dr._ (unintelligible scrawling that looked kind of like a signature).

Their PE teacher looked at the note as if it was the most ridiculous thing she had ever seen. But then she sighed. “I am struggling to believe you are actually injured, but I need someone to set up the cones and I’m too lazy to do it myself. Hikawa-san, go and get changed.”

“Ahaha, actually, I kinda forgot my kit?” Hina said.

Their teacher sighed. “Then you will have a detention after school tomorrow.”

“But I’m the school council president!”

“Even better. You could use that time to get some work in. For now, you will assist Minato-san.”

And that was how Yukina found herself on a freezing field in the middle of winter, constantly dumping down equipment that wasn’t even necessary to the drills. She had found a way to kind of wedge her shoe on, but it came off every two seconds and she had to chase after it, her ankle throbbing. The only positive was that her plan had worked, and she was wearing her thick, long sleeved coat.

Meanwhile, in an attempt to help her, Hina kept grabbing various sticks for her to use as a crutch.

“This one looks super sturdy! Try it!”

“Hina, I’m not actually injured.” Yukina said, even as she held in a hiss of pain.

Hina looked genuinely caught off guard. “You’re not?”

“No. I just - had to hide something on my wrist.” she replied, not noticing her mistake until it was too late.

“Ohhhh. Can I see it?” Hina asked.

Yukina realised she didn’t have a choice in this. Hina’s boundless curiosity would make sure that she pestered Yukina until she saw whatever she was hiding. So she wordlessly pulled down her sleeve, showing Hina the black numbers.

“Woah. Where did you get _that_ tattoo?” Hina asked, and once again Yukina was slightly scared at how easily some of her friends were accepting that it was perfectly plausible to have a tattoo that moved of its own accord.

Wait. Friend? Was Hina a friend? Yukina supposed she was. She would often chat to Yukina when she visited Sayo’s house, until Sayo told her to go away, and showed up to every Roselia live and some practices to congratulate them. Plus, she had been quite kind in how easily she had carried Yukina along the corridors and the other ways she was trying to assist. (Trying being the keyword, but even so.)

It wasn’t completely crazy that Hina might like her.

“Hina. Do you have a crush on me?” she asked.

Hina laughed. “That’s a pretty wild change of subject, Yukina-chan!”

“It’s related to the… tattoo.”

“Oh, okay. In that case, no I don’t. Sorry!” Hina said, in a way that made Yukina think she had said it many times before to others.

She felt the now familiar jolt, and saw Hina’s eyes turn wide as the numbers went red. “What? How did you do that?”

“On Sunday evening, a giant pink bear told me one of my friends had a crush on me and that I had to find out who it was. When I do, this countdown will go green… and disappear, I think?” Yukina said, but now she thought about it she wasn’t sure Hallucination Bear had mentioned anything about it going away. Was there a way she could summon it back to ask? She didn’t want this… inscription forever.

“Oh yeah! I think sis said something about that.” Hina said.

Yukina raised her eyebrows. “Sayo did?”

“Yeah! I asked her how her day went yesterday and she was like ‘I was out with Roselia trying to find out if Rinko-chan liked Yukina-chan’, although she used your last names, of course, because she’s all dumb and formal. She didn’t tell me much else, though.” Hina said.

“Right. I see. Does she tell you about your day often?” Yukina asked.

“She sure does! You know, ever since you told me to go give her that umbrella she’s been way nicer to me! I kinda owe you one, Yukina-chan.” Hina said.

“I do? I thought you and Sayo repaired your relationship yourselves.” Yukina said.

Hina giggled. “Well, duh, but you helped a bit too! Plus, I already smuggle out romance books for Lisa-chi from the library, so I should do something nice for you too. Equality is good.” 

“Right. Then can I ask, would it be possible for me to take Maruyama-san on a date?” 

Hina looked shocked. “You think Aya-chan’s the friend?”

“It’s a possibility.” Yukina shrugged.

“Well, she did get really embarrassed when you complimented her singing one time, but that’s just typical Aya-chan!” Hina said. “She could be, though, but our agency’s really strict on dating…”

“I know that.”

Hina’s face lit up in mischief. “Aha! I see what you’re asking now. Don’t worry, I’ll tell the agency staff she’s sick or something. You should do it on Friday, cause by then they’re so exhausted I could tell them Aya-chan’s decided to become an astronaut and they wouldn’t care. Do you want to be an astronaut, Yukina-chan?”

“No. I want to take Maruyama-san on a date.” Yukina said.

“Of course you do! I forgot for a second,” Hina said. “Okay. I’ll tell her after school so she can freak out about it for two days.” 

“Right. Thank you, Hina.” Yukina said.

“Anytime! But can I ask you something?” Hina said.

“Of course.” Yukina said, even as she felt some trepidation at the possibilities of whatever Hina would want from her.

“Did you ask sis yet?”

Yukina nodded. “It’s not her.”

Hina raised her eyebrows. “Really? That’s kinda surprising.”

The strange feeling she had felt yesterday was back. “Why would it be surprising?”

“Minato-san! Hikawa-san! Lesson’s over!” their teacher yelled, before Hina could say anything.

It was a sign she should stop thinking about it. Sayo didn’t like her. It was that simple.

“Hina,” she panted, as they sprinted back.

“Yeah?”

“I have one more favour to ask of you.”

“Shoot.”

“Please help me get this stupid bandage off once we’re back inside.”

* * *

An hour later, Yukina was walking properly again, and outside a very traditional looking house. A sign read, ‘Ryuuseido’.

So this was the place. In a way, it suited Poppin’ Party. Roselia was serious, and as such they had their professional studio, but Popipa had their own, homely sound… and they literally practised in someone’s home.

Yukina entered, following the path as she looked around her. She had no idea which building Popipa practised in… was there someone she could ask?

As if on cue, an elderly woman approached her. “Hello, dear. Are you here to buy something?”

“Um… no. I’m here for Kasumi Toyama? I’ve heard her band rehearses here.” she replied.

“Ah! Another one of the band girls, are you?” Yukina nodded. Just how many ‘band girls’ came here? “They practise in the basement of that warehouse over there. Do you want me to show you the way?”

“I think I’ll be alright. Thank you.” Yukina said, making her way towards the building. Once she was inside, she found the trapdoor, open just a crack. She could very faintly hear music. She lifted it all the way and the sound grew louder. It was one of their songs, but Yukina couldn’t place her finger on which one. It didn’t really sound like Popipa’s typical sound. Frowning, Yukina put a tentative foot on the first stair and descended.

As she got a clear view of the room, she felt slightly confused. Everything was so neat and tidy, like the room had just been swept or polished. And everyone was playing already? Whenever Kasumi described it to her, it sounded like the basement was also their place to hang out before rehearsal, with tons of snacks and pillow fights.

Halfway down, the band spotted her. Specifically, their drummer, who dropped her sticks. “She’s here,” she whispered.

The other girls turned to look at her, their sound dying out instantly. Awkwardly, Yukina walked into the room, her ankle still hindering her progress. She was hyper-aware of their eyes on her. For a moment, there was nothing, and then Kasumi yelled: “Yuuuuukina-senpaiiiiii!”

Ah. That was much more familiar.

“Kasumi!” the keyboardist hissed. “I’m so sorry about her. I’m Ichigaya Arisa. Rinko-senpai told us you were coming.”

“I don’t mind,” Yukina said, starting to feel slightly nervous. None of the girls seemed _hostile_ towards her, but she couldn’t remember them acting like this after lives or at CiRCLE events.

“I should introduce you to everyone!” Kasumi said happily, although her voice was a lot quieter. “This is Hanazono Tae, our lead guitarist and rabbit-keeper, Ushigome Rimi, our legendary bassist, Yamabuki Saaya, our baker and drummer, and you’ve already met the super cute Arisa~.”

“Kasumi, shut up!” Arisa hissed, going red.

“Pleased to meet you all.” Yukina said awkwardly. She didn’t even know how to introduce the topic she had come to talk about. 

“U-Um, would you like to listen to us rehearse?” Kasumi asked a tad robotically, almost as if she was reading from a mental script.

If she was being honest, no. Yukina did like Popipa as a band, but right now she wanted to ask why they were behaving so weirdly, and then find out if Kasumi liked her, but she couldn’t exactly say that. She did have manners. 

“It would be my pleasure.”

Once again, their sound was… off. Yukina hadn’t just been imagining it. Music didn’t lie, and right now it was telling Yukina that Popipa felt somber. But that couldn’t be right. Their band was about rainbows and sparkles and stars. They performed for themselves, because they were chasing a ‘heart-pounding, sparkling feeling’, but currently they sounded like a funeral march.

Their technical skills, however, were the best Yukina had ever heard them. Each girl was dead focused on her instrument, with none of their normal sloppy grins to each other or bopping along to the music. Even Kasumi was standing still on the spot, her strumming less enthusiastic than usual. The only exception was Tae, who occasionally pulled a funny face at her, but Yukina had absolutely no explanation for that one.

Yukina noticed other things, too. All their uniforms looked perfect, their ribbons in pristine condition at a perfectly straight angle, their socks pulled all the way up and their shoes shining. That just simply didn’t happen after a long day at school. Yukina also noticed a pile of wrappers in the corner, as well as a scrunched up Yamabuki Bakery bag. What was going on here?

The performance finished. Instead of exchanging proud looks, like Yukina _knew_ they did after every song, all five pairs of eyes immediately focused on her, almost as if… looking for her approval? But that couldn’t be right. She had come here to ask Kasumi-

Oh. But they didn’t actually _know_ that, did they? She had essentially told Rinko to just tell them she was visiting, without a reason.

And Yukina wasn’t completely unself-aware. She knew she came off as intimidating. She wasn’t tall, but she didn’t really smile and people knew her as the ‘lone songstress’, or whatever. And considering she barely interacted with the rest of Popipa, and she had been quite harsh to them at points…

Clearly, they had gotten the impression that she had come to inspect them, or something.

“It was a very good performance,” she said honestly. “However…”

Rimi looked ready to faint.

“It felt different.” Yukina continued. “Like you were holding back.”

Kasumi was a very readable person. And right now, she looked ready to burst. “Please, _please_ can we tell her?”

“Alright, fine!” Arisa yelled. “Yukina-senpai, we wanted to appear our best for you.”

“But this isn't your best.” Yukina said simply. “This isn’t _you._ I’ve seen you perform, and in the time I spend with her, Toyama-san almost exclusively talks about you all. This is not the Poppin’ Party I’m familiar with.”

“See? I told you guys she would realise,” Tae said. “I kept trying to make you laugh in the performance, but you must have been too distracted by our fake formalness.”

Fake formalness. That was certainly a term for it. “I did wonder what you were doing…” Yukina said. “But I must say that your playing was outstanding. All of you.”

“Th-thank you very much!” Rimi said, hugging her bass to herself.

“But I did not come to evaluate your performance. I came for another matter. However, I believe it would be best if you all made yourselves a little more comfortable.” Yukina said, and all five girls visibly relaxed.

“I totally agree!” Kasumi said. “Where did we hide the snacks, again?”

Yukina pointed to the corner.

* * *

“Hey, Yukina-senpai. Which pastry do you want?” Saaya asked.

It was certainly quite the collection. That was what you got when you had a baker’s daughter as a bandmate, she supposed. Lisa and Sayo’s baking was very good, but they couldn’t make such large quantities of sheer _food._

She was tempted to go for the chocolate cornet, as it looked the sweetest, but Rimi was salivating while looking at it, so she shook her head. “I already ate before I came.”

Rimi gratefully snatched up the cornet.

“Aw, that’s a shame. You should totally stop by Saaya’s bakery at some point, though!” Kasumi said, her mouth full of melon bun.

“It’s not _my_ bakery.” Saaya laughed.

“You should also visit Hanazono Land,” Tae said very seriously, as if she had just said something that made sense. Yukina decided to ignore her.

“Tae, you shut up too,” Arisa said. “Anyways, um, Yukina-senpai. You said there was a reason for you coming here?”

“Ah, yes,” Yukina said. For some reason, she felt awkward. She had barely met these girls except Kasumi, and she was a tiny bit uncomfortable with the concept of explaining her whole situation to them. But at the same time, they were a very non-judgemental bunch.

“I need to know if - if Toyama-san has romantic feelings for me,” Yukina said, mentally berating herself for the slip in her speech.

Silence. And then a very confused “No. Why?” from Kasumi.

Everyone else was also looking at her, making Yukina shuffle slightly in her seat. Her wrist had jolted again, filling her with the knowledge that Kasumi was telling the truth, but she didn’t pull her sleeve down yet. “Well… It’s an interesting story. Is anyone here religious?”

“I don’t think so?” Rimi said.

“That’s alright, then. Because apparently my story might offend some believers… but let’s get to the point. On Sunday night, I was visited by a god, who told me that I had a week to discover which one of my friends liked me, and if I didn’t manage it the world would end.” Yukina said.

More silence from the group. Yukina was starting to believe that her outside impressions of them had been wrong after all. “That’s…” Saaya said, seemingly at a loss for words. “Do you have any proof?”

Yukina pulled down her sleeve.The group huddled around, gazing in awe. The silence was yet again only broken by Kasumi, who said excitedly: “I’m your friend?”

“Of course. That’s why I came here.” Yukina said.

Kasumi leaped up from her seat. “I’m Yukina-senpai’s friend!” she exclaimed. “I mean, you were always _my_ friend, but I didn’t know if I was _your_ friend. You feel me?”

“Kind of…” Yukina said.

“I don’t think that’s what our focus should be here…” Saaya said. Yukina had to agree.

“Yukina-senpai, this is all so crazy,” Arisa said, her eyes still fixated on Yukina’s arm. “So it’s not Kasumi, right?”

Yukina shook her head. “If it was, the countdown would have gone green. Apparently. It’s also not anyone in Roselia.”

“Guys! This is urgent now. We _have_ to help Yukina-senpai,” Kasumi said, fierce determination etched across her face.

“No, honestly, it’s fine-” Yukina tried to say, but Kasumi had disappeared behind the drum kit in search of something and wasn’t hearing a word she was saying.

“Kasumi, your notebook is under the stairs,” Arisa said. “As well as your pen.”

“Thanks, Arisa!” Kasumi said, retrieving both items. The neon pink notebook was definitely about five times thicker than when it had been purchased and was covered in stars and childish doodles. The pen was in a similar sort of state.

“Right!” Kasumi said, dumping the book down on the table. “Ladies. Who do we think it could be?”

“Sorry, what?” Yukina asked.

“I’ll ask my rabbits.” Tae said.

“O-Tae, your rabbits do not like Yukina-senpai!” Arisa hissed.

“I know. But they are very wise. I’m sure they would know who it is.”

“This is not necessary,” Yukina said. “I only came for your answer, Toyama-san. You have done more than enough for me.”

“Nonsense!” Kasumi said. “We are _friends_ and friends do things for each other!” She stabbed her pen through about ten pages of the notebook as if to accentuate her point.

Saaya looked a little nervous as she said, “Um, Yukina-senpai, how many other friends do you have?”

What a shame. Yukina had pinned her down as one of the sane ones. “Not a lot, if I’m being honest. However, I have already arranged to meet with Maruyama-san.”

“Ooh yeah, Aya-senpai’s really gay,” Tae said thoughtfully. “It could be her.”

“Have you talked with Ran-chan yet?” Rimi asked. “You two have quite the rivalry… very passionate…”

“Why does everyone think it’s Mitake-san?” Yukina sighed, as Kasumi wrote ‘RAN-CHAN’ in giant letters and started decorating it with flowers. “She hasn’t shown any signs of liking me at all. In fact, she often talks of wanting to punch my face in whenever we see each other.”

“But she’s not the most open with her emotions. I mean, that’s what Tomoe says.” Saaya said.

“Rimi-rin does an amazing Ran impression. You can practise asking her now, Yukina-senpai.” Tae said.

“No!” Kasumi said. “If you combine the fact that Ran-chan can’t be open with emotions with how she wants to punch Yukina-senpai in the face…” She added lots of random scribbles that clearly meant something. “There’s no way you can ask her directly, Yukina-senpai. She’ll kill you!”

“Murder!” Tae gasped.

“No, she wouldn’t! Kasumi and O-Tae, please stop talking.” Arisa groaned.

“I don’t want you to die, Yukina-senpai! So you have to find out if she likes you another way,” Kasumi said.

That made some sort of sense, and Yukina hated that it did. “But how?” she asked anyway. Arisa looked at her like she had betrayed her in battle.

“Hmm… What do we know about Ran-chan?” Kasumi asked the table, and everyone seemed to fall into deep thought.

“She’s _emo.”_ Tae said. Everyone ignored her.

“She may not be good at expressing herself, but she’s really kind…” Rimi said. “I think she cares about her friends a lot.”

“That’s what I’ve heard too,” Saaya said. “Tomoe says she acts all aloof about it, though.”

“Hm. Yamabuki-san, you know the girls of Afterglow well, right?” Yukina asked.

“Um, yeah?” Saaya said. “Tomoe and Tsugumi-chan both live really close to me, and Ran does, sort of. So I hear a lot about what’s going on with them.”

“Do you know why they became a band? They didn’t play instruments before, correct?” 

“Nah, only Tsugumi-chan and Tomoe, but not in a band context. But I think it was because they all got split up class-wise in middle school? It was a way to stick together.” Saaya said.

“That does line up with them as a band. They play some harsh sounding songs, but they also have a lively discography. They’re very different from Roselia… formed solely on personal feelings.” Yukina said, a hunch starting to form in her brain. She took out her phone and looked up Afterglow’s music. Turning up the volume, she placed her phone on the table as the first song on shuffle began to play.

“Oh! This is their 3rd single!” Saaya said excitedly. “‘Y.O.L.O!!!’, right? Man, I love this song. It’s really personal, you know?”

“Exactly.” Yukina said. “It’s personal.”

Four faces slowly nodded in understanding. Kasumi, however, still looked confused. “I don’t get what Afterglow’s music has to with stopping Ran-chan from punching you?”

“Well, when you write a song, do you write from your own experiences and feelings?”

“Of course!” Kasumi said. “I write about how much I love Popipa, always! And if something happens that excites me I include that too!”

“I do the same. Roselia’s lyrics have been greatly influenced by our development as a band.” Yukina said.

“Really?” Kasumi asked. “I can’t understand what you’re saying half of the time.”

“Ignore her,” Arisa said. “Kasumi, what Yukina-senpai is saying that Ran-chan may also write from her experiences. So maybe we’ll be able to find out if she likes Yukina-senpai, or anyone, through her lyrics.”

“Exactly.” Yukina said.

Kasumi’s face lit up in understanding. “Oh, I get it now! Let’s read Afterglow lyrics together, Yukina-senpai!”

“I'm sorry, but I really must not intrude on you any longer. I’ll do it tonight, or tomorrow.” Yukina said.

“Plus, I think Afterglow is too advanced for Kasumi’s reading level,” Yukina thought she heard Arisa mutter.

“Okay, but at least stay?” Kasumi begged. She did have very good puppy eyes. “We can sing songs together!”

Yukina was about to deny her, but she looked around at the hopeful faces of the band and then back into those puppy eyes.

“Very well,” she said. “But only a couple.”

“Woo hoo!” Kasumi said, as everyone else scrambled to their instruments. “This is gonna be the best rehearsal ever!”

“You say that every rehearsal, Kasumi-chan.” Rimi gently pointed out.

“Yeah, but I’ve got a good feeling about this one! Hey, Yukina-senpai? What songs do you know?”

“Have you heard of something called ‘Sousei no Aquarion’?” Yukina asked.

Kasumi jumped on the spot. “That’s one of the best songs in existence! We’ve played that before!”

“Well, I suppose we’d better get to it, then.” Yukina said. “Have you got a spare microphone?”

Yukina felt a tap on her shoulder. Tae Hanazono stood next to her, holding out something very pink and fluffy and definitely not a microphone. “It’s our best,” she said sincerely.

Yukina didn’t know what it was, but something made her reach out and take the damned object. “Thank you,” she said.

“Okay! Let’s go!” Kasumi yelled, and Yukina grinned.

She closed her eyes and allowed herself to get swept up in Popipa’s rhythm.

Soon enough, she would find her answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes you have a fairly short chapter planned out, but then Yukina decides to go and twist her ankle, and boom! The chapter is double its original size.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed! Kudos and comments are, as always, mega appreciated.


	4. Ran

Thursday

_Lisa❤️: heyyy yukina? Where tf are you ive been waiting forever_

_Lisa❤️: yuuuuuukina_

_Lisa❤️: its time for school!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!_

_Lisa❤️: gonna leave without you i stg_

_Lisa❤️: wait NVM just talked to ur dad. Hope u feel better soon!_

_Lisa❤️: i mean. If youre actually sick lol_

_Lisa❤️: anyways ill check in on u after work!!_

Yukina barely had a minute to look down at the messages with satisfaction before getting back to her other mission. She had (kind of) successfully fooled Lisa into thinking she was sick, something she had thought would be more difficult. She was even wearing a large, oversized hoodie that made her look beyond pathetic just in case Lisa poked her head through the curtains. But even with that done, now she had to convince Sayo to take the day off with her.

_Sayo H: Absolutely not. Minato-san, you can easily do this after school._

_Yukina Minato: yes but like i need to be SERIOUS ANd THOROUGH about this_

_Sayo H: Then do it yourself._

_Yukina Minato: i need a second brain_

_Sayo H: ...Okay. In that case, why not ask Imai-san?_

_Yukina Minato: this isnt her area of expertise plus she already thinks im sick lol_

_Yukina Minato: She actually taught me what lol mens. It means laugh out loud > did you know that sayo _

_Sayo H: I did._

_Yukina Minato: wait really_

_Sayo H: Hina._

_Sayo H: Anyways, we’re getting off topic._

_Sayo H: I am a member of the disciplinary committee, I can’t just lie!_

_Yukina Minato: but you can go on your phone in class? Ok_

_Sayo H: Irrelevant._

_Yukina Minato: oh i think its very relevant_

_Sayo H: What do you want from me, Minato-san?_

_Yukina Minato: for you to bunk off school and look at the whole afterglow discogrpahy with me. I aleady said_

_Sayo H: …_

_Yukina Minato: pwease ill be lonely_

_Sayo H: I am going to pray that was a typo._

_Yukina Minato: sayo :(((_

_Sayo H: Fine. Fine!_

_Sayo H: You’re lucky Hanasakigawa starts later than your school. You’re also lucky that Hina is very disorganised. I was able to get her to tell my parents I’m unwell._

_Yukina Minato: good work sayo_

_Sayo H: Flattery will get you nowhere._

_Yukina Minato: suuure_

_Yukina Minato: just hurry up and get to my house_

* * *

An hour later, Sayo was looking at her room like she’d never seen it before.

“Minato-san, all this is…” Her words trailed off, but Yukina knew what she meant.

She had a large noticeboard that was normally covered in reminders (that her mother or Lisa put up there for her), Roselia pictures, concert dates or random songwriting ideas. All of this had been taken down and placed in the only neat pile on her desk. Now, the board was decorated with printouts of the lyrics to every single Afterglow song, with the parts Yukina thought were important. There were also random pictures of the band Yukina had been able to find (or texted by Saaya), because she thought that staring at the faces of the members who played these songs was very important.

As well as that, she had wheeled in a whiteboard that had last been used by herself and Lisa when they were about six. It had taken her over half an hour to drag it from the garage, up the stairs and into her room at roughly 4am in the morning, all while her mother looked at her from her parents’ bedroom, probably trying to remember how much alcohol she had drunk during pregnancy. Then, it had taken another hour to rub off the last masterpiece drawn on the board (the sun and what Yukina _assumed_ were flowers) and to aggressively drag the not-used-in-ten-years pens across the board until they worked.

Yukina was ready. Ready to understand Afterglow, and Ran Mitake.

Sayo, however, was still looking at her like she was insane.

“I don’t see why you can’t just ask her.”

“Sayo. You know Afterglow. They are very proud of being our rivals. I think that Mitake-san would take it as the highest insult if I inquired as to her feelings towards me.” Yukina turned towards the noticeboard. “So we shall do this instead.”

Sayo still looked very hesitant, but she moved closer. “Well, how far have you gotten?”

“No progress at all. I was waiting for your input.”

Sayo’s expression changed to look more surprised. That confused Yukina. She had invited Sayo round to help her, wouldn’t it be obvious that she wouldn’t start without her? But Sayo seemed slightly embarrassed and she swallowed and stuttered out an “I-I see…”

“We should begin.” Yukina said, handing Sayo extra printouts she had made for her of their discography. “They don’t have as many songs as us, so this should not be too much of a pressing task.”

Sayo nodded slowly. “Right. Let’s start.”

They worked in silence for a few minutes, Yukina annotating the whiteboard with the song names and release dates, until Yukina decided she was too hot, and with no reason to pretend she was sick anymore, took off her hoodie.

The minute her whole face was revealed, no longer exposed by the large hood, Sayo gasped.

“Minato-san, what happened to your cheek?”

“It was an accident,” Yukina mumbled out, the same response she had given everyone since yesterday. “Don’t worry.”

Sayo moved closer. “I am worrying. I’ve also noticed how you’re limping.”

“It was just a small fall,” Yukina said. Truthfully, her ankle had swollen up a little overnight, but it had worked in her favour as she had shown it to her father a couple of hours ago, persuading him to call Haneoka and tell them she wouldn’t be in before he and her mother went off to their jobs. It wasn’t really that difficult to get a day off from school for her generous dad, but Yukina preferred to do it when she was actually sick or injured as much as possible. Not because of her morals, or any of that kind of nonsense, but because it made her feel better about herself when she took a whole week off for no reason other than laziness.

“It doesn’t matter how small it was. You’re clearly suffering from it.”

Yukina wanted to jab back, but Sayo’s words were true. Her ankle had painfully ached during the night, but she hadn’t done anything about it. She had just hoped it would go away eventually. Besides, it was her own stupid fault, so she was paying the price for it.

“It hurts,” Yukina admitted.

“Could you take off your sock?” Sayo asked.

Yukina obeyed. Once she had removed it and sat down on her bed, Sayo gently touched her swollen ankle, looking at it with eyes full of concern. “It’s… quite bad.”

“Really?” Yukina asked. “I barely twisted it!” 

“Then… what did you do directly afterwards?”

“Stood in a field for an hour.”

Sayo sighed. “And then?”

“Walked to Ryuuseido. But I sat down most of the time I was there!” She quickly added, before Sayo could protest. “And then I got home.”

“So you just carried on as normal? No resting up your foot, no ice packs?” Sayo asked.

Yukina shook her head.

“No wonder it’s gotten to this state then,” Sayo sighed. “I appreciate that you may have wanted to carry on as normal despite your injury, but there is a fine line between determination and stubbornness.”

“I know,” Yukina said. “It wasn’t really the greatest idea, was it?”

“Perhaps not,” Sayo replied, “but the best you can do is take care of yourself now.”

“What do I do?” Yukina said.

Sayo looked up at her. “You need to rest your ankle up, on a pillow or something similar.”

“But I can’t lie down,” Yukina said, gesturing to the whiteboard. “I still need to work on this.”

Sayo gave her a soft smile, and Yukina felt a certain warmth in her chest as she said: “Well, you invited me around to assist you, did you not?”

“That’s right, but…”

“Minato-san, lie down. I am going to get you some ice.”

Yukina obediently laid on her bed, sticking her foot on her trusty cat pillow. She wasn’t the greatest at understanding people, but long ago she had learnt that Sayo was just as stubborn as her, and that if she tried to argue against her orders to rest they would never get anywhere.

Besides, this did feel nice. Finally resting her foot after… what, almost 24 hours? Couldn’t there have been another way to get out of PE? It had seemed like a good idea in the heat of the moment, but so did continuing to songwrite at 4am every time, and now Yukina had a lifetime’s worth of sleep to catch up on and permanent bags under her eyes.

Hm. Perhaps if she got a little more comfortable… she could have a quick little nap now… 

“I’m back,” Sayo announced. Yukina then realised she had been quite a while. Wow, this whole Hallucination Bear nonsense was _really_ adding onto her general sleep deprivation and making her even more exhausted than usual. She had sort of floated away from Earth for a moment.

These thoughts were strange, and distracting her from the reason behind Sayo’s long absence; as well as an icepack, Sayo was carrying one of her mother’s trays, and on it was a steaming mug of coffee, seven packets of sugar and a plate of cookies in her most favourite shape in the world.

Sayo gently set the tray down, then removed the ice pack from it. Yukina watched closely as the morning sun fell onto Sayo’s face, even while she flinched at the cold feeling of the pack on her skin.

Sayo gave her a tender smile. “It should feel better now.”

Yukina returned it briefly, but she couldn’t help her gaze from wandering to the cookies. They looked so good. Sayo saw her looking and laughed. “You can have one. I made them for you, after all.”

Yukina had just been reaching out to take the biggest one on top, but Sayo’s words made her freeze. “Excuse me?”

“Um! I mean-“ Oh no. Sayo had turned a deep shade of red very quickly, and Yukina was starting to feel a bit of sympathy for her. “I didn’t mean to be improper, I just-”

“It’s alright,” Yukina said, “I was just caught off guard by your words. I’m quite flattered, actually.” Translation: she was about to combust. “But didn’t you make these with Lisa?”

“Actually, no,” Sayo confessed, beginning to return to a normal colour. “I’ve become a little more confident in my abilities recently. Normally I would always bake under the guidance of Imai-san or Hazawa-san, but… something gripped me, I suppose, and last night I just made them. We had all the ingredients, and I went for it. They may not be as professional as Imai-san’s, though…”

“I don’t mind.” Yukina said, finally grasping the cat shaped cookie. “I do like the shapes. That’s enough for me.”

“Ah, well,” Sayo said, a slight grin playing on her lips, “I suppose cats are not too bad after all.”

“They are the finest creatures upon this earth,” Yukina said with finality, and with that she took a large bite.

Chocolate, cinnamon, and the faintest hint of coffee…

It was everything she liked, all in one.

“Delicious,” she said, and she meant it.

Sayo’s face brightened. “Really?”

“Normally I would give a more critical assessment, but all I can say right now is that I want more.”

Ever obliging, Sayo held the plate closer.

Although, there was a frown on her face now. “You are eating those rather quickly. Did you eat breakfast?”

“Of course I did! I always do. Kind of.” Yukina replied.

The frown deepened. “How can you _kind of_ eat breakfast?”

“I normally eat a bit of toast. But you know, it depends. I’m bad at getting out of bed, and sometimes I have to prioritise getting to school over food.” Yukina said. It really was a shame, as she did love food. But then again, when it came to everything that wasn’t music, she was just too lazy.

Sayo sighed again. “What, do I need to make you breakfast every day now?”

“No. I can often buy something at Haneoka before school.” Yukina said quickly, but then immediately regretting it because, well, she did rather like the thought of Sayo making her breakfast.

“However, it is tempting,” she added, wanting to see Sayo smile again. “After all, I would find it difficult to tell the difference between these cookies and Lisa’s. And she’s been baking _forever.”_

Sayo gave a bashful grin. Perfect. “I try my hardest.”

Yukina found herself gazing at Sayo for a long time; longer than she needed to. And Sayo didn’t look away, either. To anyone else, they must have looked like fools, or participating in a staring contest. But Yukina did not care. There was so much of Sayo to admire, in many aspects. That was something she had believed for a very long time.

Eventually, Sayo gave a polite cough and stood up.

“Should we… I mean, I, get back to it?”

“I’ll help too. I’m not completely useless!” Yukina protested. “Give me one of those sheets.” 

Wordlessly, Sayo obliged, and they kept working. Yukina had also discovered a slightly mouldy highlighter she might have used in middle school, and was marking all the relevant parts from the lyrics. She hadn’t found anything explicitly romantic yet, but she would keep trying.

She was a little distracted, mostly by the girl on the other side of the room. It was so easy to tell whenever Sayo was focused; be it the furrow of her brow, the tiny frown dancing on her lips or the way she kept tapping the whiteboard pen against her chin. It was very endearing. Yukina wanted to ask how she was doing, but she didn’t want the adorable expressions on Sayo’s face to disappear.

So she merely kept looking at the lyrics for _Tied to the Skies,_ even though she would much rather have Sayo sitting next to her again.

* * *

“Minato-san?” Sayo said, half an hour later.

“Hm? What is it?” Yukina asked.

Sayo moved back to Yukina’s bedside again. “Did you not say that the whole point of this exercise was because Mitake-san would never be honest with her feelings?”  
  
“More or less,” Yukina said. “Why?”

“Look at this,” Sayo said. “It’s from their first single.”

_Spitting out my impure thoughts_

_Dyed orange color_

_The important thing is telling it, right?_

_I want to give my real voice_

_The words to you, honestly_

“Oh.” Yukina said.

“This was released quite a while ago, too…” Sayo said, her eyes drifting towards the whiteboard with the timeline of Afterglow’s discography.

“Perhaps we should ask her to come over. I believe Lisa has a shift with Moca after school, and everyone in Afterglow never leaves each other alone.” Yukina frowned.

“But what if she…” Sayo bit her lip. “You know. Punches you.”

Yukina shrugged. “That’s a bridge I’ll cross when I get there.” She was willing to be punched for the fate of the world. And her ankle was already out for the count, so she really had nothing to fear.

“There are videos of Afterglow’s concerts online, and such,” Sayo said. “I have been thinking that it would be more beneficial if we listened to the songs themselves.”

Yukina nodded. “That is wise. I feel like that would be the final key to unlock Mitake-san’s true feelings.” It made sense to her. After all, the bonds of music never lied.

And that was how she found herself shuffling across the bed, allowing Sayo to briefly climb over her before resting behind her. She really was quite lucky to have a TV in her room, thanks to the cash her father had from his wild band days. Sayo had taken out her phone, and was scrolling through a few 480p YouTube videos of some of Afterglow’s lives. Yukina meanwhile messaged Lisa, asking her to kidnap Ran Mitake after school so Yukina could interrogate her. The normal stuff.

“This is the one,” Sayo said, after a while. _“True color.”_

The performance wasn’t too different from how Yukina remembered the ones she had seen. Afterglow was brimming with passion, overspilling from the stage and into the crowd. And the crowd threw that same passion back, cheering and yelling and waving their red glow sticks like there was no tomorrow.

“They are impressive,” Sayo hummed, soft and close. “Their energy is almost infectious. I know they’re our rivals, but…” 

“I understand,” Yukina said. She peered more closely at the grainy quality of the screen. Ran Mitake did not hold back. That was something the video was teaching her.

“It’s been too long since I watched an Afterglow live,” Yukina muttered. “I misjudged Mitake-san.”

As if on cue, her phone buzzed with Lisa’s reply.

_Lisa❤️: i mean_

_Lisa❤️: sure????????_

_Lisa❤️: i thought you were too sick for human interaction but Okay_

“Lisa very enthusiastically agreed to bring Mitake-san here,” Yukina said. “She thinks it’s a wonderful idea.”

“I see,” Sayo said. “In that case, we really don’t have much more need to analyse Afterglow’s lyrics, do we?”

“No…” Yukina admitted. “It’s still not that late. You could go back to school.”

Sayo looked almost offended. “What, and leave you here? Absolutely not. Besides…” Sayo said, her expression changing into a smile.

“I believe we still have a lot of other rock bands to listen to, don’t we?”

Yukina simply shuffled closer to Sayo. It was the only response needed.

* * *

A few hours full of joint-crying over music and Sayo’s cooking later, Yukina hadn’t moved an inch. She didn’t want to. Both her bed and Sayo were impossibly comfortable.

But then she heard the front door unlock.

“Hey, Yukina!” Lisa called out from downstairs.

Yukina and Sayo froze. “What do we do?” Sayo asked nervously. “She doesn’t know about… _this,_ right?” _This_ referring to Yukina’s room, which looked like a serious fan’s Afterglow shrine, rather than the important research station it actually was.

Yukina shrugged. “It’s just Lisa,” she said. Really, what was the worst that could happen? Lisa already suspected she had skived off school, and in any case, the day Lisa actually got mad at her would be the day all of Roselia all got matching forehead vegetable tattoos. Most likely, Lisa would just laugh at her. “She never replied to my text further, anyway, so I assume that Mitake-san was busy.” And also, she was too lazy to have even thought about clearing up her room at any point throughout the day.

So Yukina was relaxed as she called: “I’m in here,” and heard footsteps come up the stairs. It wasn’t until her bedroom door opened and Ran Mitake and Moca Aoba came tumbling out from underneath Lisa’s arm that Yukina realised she may have overlooked some possible scenarios.

“I picked up these two rascals at work and- _oh my god, Yukina!”_

“Minato-san!?” Ran angrily yelled as she surveyed the room. “What is this. Why have you got pictures of- of all of us?”

“Isn’t it obvious, my dearest Ran?” Moca gently cooed. “Minato-san’s become a diehard Afterglow fan~”

“No, she has not! There is an explanation behind all this.” Sayo protested.

Nobody except Yukina seemed to hear her. Moca was the worst of all, moving to the noticeboard and whispering “Damn, I look _great,”_ to almost every picture.

“Are you stalking us?” Ran asked. “I know we’re rivals and stuff, but we don’t have any kind of secret Roselia bunker like this! We don’t have the money!”

“Are you saying that if you did have the money you’d have a secret Roselia bunker?” Lisa asked, her eyebrows furrowed.

“This didn’t cost me anything. I’m a very savvy shopper.” Yukina said. By this, she meant she didn’t go out to the shops at all, but that wasn’t a necessary detail.

“Is everyone going to ignore the fact Minato-san is injured?” Sayo asked. Yukina felt a warm feeling spread through her chest. _Again._ How weak she had become.

“Oh yeah, you’re right!” Lisa exclaimed. “Yukina, what happened? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Only Sayo seemed to realise the extent to which I was injured,” Yukina said. “But really, it’s fine. Nothing more than a twist.”

“Man, thanks for helping her out, Sayo,” Lisa sighed, before frowning again. “But why are you even here?”

“I’d like to know that as well,” Ran said, arms folded. She didn’t look unlike Sayo a couple days prior. 

Yukina sighed. “Well, simply put, I had to know if you had a crush on me, Mitake-san.”

“A what?”

“A crush. It’s when you have romantic fee-“

“I know what it means!” Ran yelled, seemingly getting even more offended. Yukina didn’t understand the issue; Ran had appeared to genuinely not know what a crush was, so Yukina had begun a polite explanation. She was very good at socialising nowadays. Well. Better than she used to be, anyway.

However, she still had the problem that anything she said at any given point in time pissed Ran off, and it was certainly holding true now.

“Why would you think I did?” Ran asked. “You’re - you’re-“

“What?” Yukina said. Now she was confused. What a mess. She felt the strong urge for everyone to leave so she could go to bed, or something equally pleasant.

“We’re rivals!” Ran said, as if that explained everything. This was not helpful for Yukina, however, who still had to look up the dictionary definition of rival, from time to time.

“Isn’t that better? You can have a homoerotic rivals to lovers Wattpad love story~” Moca grinned. Yukina understood about two of the words that came out of her mouth.

Sayo let out a deep sigh. Ah. Another person who felt the same way as her, then. “Aoba-san, you are not making this situation any better.”

“Yeah, let’s all cool down and that,” Lisa said. “You want any drinks, guys? I can get you some while Yukina explains.”

“You know where the Minatos keep their alcohol?” Ran asked. “I think I’m gonna need it.” Sayo looked horrified.

“I’ll get you some juice,” Lisa said mildly, before scampering away. Ha! Coward. Yukina could absolutely not blame her under any circumstances, though.

“Mitake-san, you can sit on my desk chair.” Yukina said. Ran still looked murderous, but she took the offer. Before Yukina could even address Moca, she dumped herself down on the bed next to Yukina and Sayo and threw them both a lazy grin. Yukina decided not to argue.

“Lisa brought the two of you from her workplace, right?” Yukina said. “Did she tell you anything while you were there?”

“Huh? The store? We weren’t-“ Ran began, but Moca shot her a deadly glare, before interrupting.

“She told us you were getting your own little harem!” Moca said.

“Okay, that is not what she said at all,” Ran said, as Yukina resisted the urge to turn over and scream into her pillow. “She said someone liked you, and that you were trying to find out who it was? She didn’t mention all _this,_ though.” Ran gestured vaguely to her whole room.

“This was a personal choice. I saw it as the best course of action.” Yukina said simply.

Ran looked like she was going to cry. “But - _why?”_ she asked.

“Well, if I were to ask you if you had a crush on me, without any warning, what would your reaction be?” Yukina asked.

“...I might end up accidentally whacking you in the face?” Ran said hesitantly.

“Yeah, Ran’s a total delinquent,” Moca chimed in, helping absolutely nobody.

“And that is my reason,” Yukina continued. “I thought I could decipher your intentions through your lyrics.” 

“Is that it? Is that really it? All this, just cause you wanted to look at our lyrics?” Ran said, spinning in the chair and surveying the room again. “Oh my god.”

“God is involved, yes,” Yukina said, nodding. “But to be honest, I haven’t found much.”

“Well, yeah. We’re a rock band. We don’t do love songs. And even if we did, it wouldn’t be about _you!”_ Ran said, leaping up from the chair.

“How very rude,” Yukina muttered. They were rivals, but there really was no need for such aggression. “I take it that you don’t have a crush on me, then?”

 _“No!”_ Ran bellowed, shocking the whole room into silence. Faintly, the shattering of a glass could be heard from downstairs.

The atmosphere was fragmented, tense. And then it was broken by Moca.

“Nice tat, Minato-san~”

“Pardon?” Yukina said, as she felt the jolt and saw the numbers turn red. “Oh, not you too!”

“You have a tattoo?” Ran said, practically throwing herself across the room to see. “You got one before me! No! No way! You’re not allowed to do that!”

“It is not a tattoo!” Sayo said loudly. “Tattoos can’t move.”

“I dunno, man,” Moca said. “What if the tattoo artist was _really_ high? Anything is possible with weed.”

“Moving on from that,” Yukina said, taking a deep breath as Ran fumed. “As Sayo said, this is not a tattoo. The actual story behind it is much stranger.”

“Well, if it can explain why you’re so intent on stalking me, I’m all ears,” Ran said.

“I have been explaining, sort of. But I’ll begin again. On Sunday night, a giant pink bear that was God visited me at my window, said I had a week to find out which of my friends had feelings for me, and that if I didn’t, the world would end. Is that clear enough for you?” Yukina said.

Ran stared at her for a long while, her jaw hanging open, before she slammed it shut. “Fuck this. I’m out of here. I gotta go see if Lisa-san found the alcohol.” 

And with that, she made her exit.

Next to her, Sayo exhaled. “What an experience…”

Moca still looked like she was having the time of her life. “Dude. I gotta thank you both. I haven’t been entertained like this in a loooong time.”

“That was not really our intention,” Yukina mumbled.

Moca patted her on the back with unnecessary force. “It’s okay. I know. You two go well together, cause you’re both so funny without realising it. Just like Ran.”

“I mean… thank you?” Yukina said, because what else could she say? She was fairly certain Moca had been complimenting her. She decided to assume so anyway.

“Oh, and I’m sorry about Ran being a meanie. When a situation surprises her, her default is to start yelling and shouting everywhere. Especially if it involves you, Minato-san~”

“Believe me, I’m aware of that. That’s why I tried my hardest not to directly ask her if she liked me. But she doesn’t seem to like the alternative much either…”

“She wasn’t exactly meant to see all this though, was she?” Sayo pointed out, gesturing to the noticeboard full of Afterglow memorabilia. 

Moca laughed. “It’s kinda cute how much effort you put into all this. Moca-chan might have fallen for you, but my heart already belongs to another…”

And then, bizarrely, Yukina felt the jolt again.

Both Moca and Sayo’s eyes had immediately flicked to the red numbers on her wrist, staring with surprise etched all over their faces.

Moca was the first to break the silence again. “Moca-chan is Minato-san’s friend? I’m honoured.”

Yukina was almost speechless. “I… I didn’t know… I wasn’t going to ask you…”

Moca gasped. “Oh, how rude! If I am not worthy of your company, I will join Ran and Lisa-san in getting drunk…”

“No!” Yukina said, before shaking herself. She didn’t want to start yelling in a similar manner to Ran. “I didn’t mean it like that. I suppose I simply never thought about our friendship before?”

“So I’m forgettable?” Moca replied, holding a hand to her heart. “You’re ruthless, Minato-san.”

“Aoba-san, stop being a fool. Minato-san meant no offence.” Sayo said crossly.

Moca’s eyebrows shot up. “Ooh! I got the loyal yet feisty Hikawa guitarist against me now! Perhaps I shall retreat…”

Yukina let out a heavy sigh. Why was having a conversation with this gremlin so exhausting? 

Moca jumped up from the bed, going back to the noticeboard. She traced her fingers against it lazily as she spoke. “Is the world really gonna end? That’s scary stuff, you know.”

Yukina crossed her arms defensively. “I’m well aware. That’s why I've tried my hardest to discover this mystery person.”

“But no success so far,” Sayo sighed. “Minato-san has an outing with Maruyama-san planned, but otherwise we may be running out of options.”

Moca’s eyes lit up. “Ooh! You’re going after an idol? Mad respect, bro.”

“Thank you,” Yukina said again, after a while. “But similarly to Sayo, I am a little concerned. I’m not the most sociable person. How many friends do I have left that I haven’t asked?”

“Quite the dilemma, Moca-chan thinks,” Moca said, stroking her chin like she was in some movie. “Well, you’re going to the Double Band Clash this weekend, right?”

“The what?”

Moca gave her another disappointed look. “Come on, Minato-san. This is the event of the century, and you’re telling me you ain’t even heard of it?”

“What even is it?” Yukina asked.

Moca gave an exaggerated sigh. “HaroHapi and PasuPare are doing a joint concert. But we’re all invited! Like a little GBP meetup, you feel?”

“I see. Normally Lisa handles such events…” Yukina trailed off. “But what does this have to do with my problem?”

“Well, I mean, you’re kinda scary, but deep down, you love all us pathetic band girls, right?” Moca asked.

“I… suppose so.” Yukina said, unsure of how else to reply.

“Right! So, maybe you subconsciously think of all the band girls as your cute lil’ friends… and maybe one of ‘em has the hots for you. You still follow?” Moca said.

Beside her, Sayo stiffened. Yukina could relate. “You think that someone in another band likes me? One I don’t speak to as much?” 

“Just a possibility,” Moca said, throwing her hands up. “Could be anyone. Someone right under your nose…”

“I know it isn’t any of Roselia or Poppin’ Party,” Yukina said. Her brain was whirring. Moca’s suggestion was a decent one. However, whenever she met up with the other bands, normally she tried to avoid talking to as many girls as possible. Not because she was a _rude_ person (well, a little), but simply because she found conversation awkward. She had connected with Roselia through music first, the only language she was really any good at communicating in. And even then, it had taken a while for her to converse with them properly, as friends and nothing more.

On the other hand, what other options did she have? Lisa would probably drag all of Roselia to the event anyway, and Yukina did enjoy them deep down. It was fun to listen to other bands, to watch how they performed, and also there were always refreshments. Perhaps someone else in HaroHapi, Pastel Palettes, or even Afterglow liked her, and then once the world was saved Yukina would have to let them down as best she could, and then finally she could return to normal.

A good enough outcome on paper. It wasn’t as if she actually wanted her own romance anyway. She was happy. She was content. Her life was good enough as it was.

The empty plate where Sayo’s cookies had once been glinted brightly in the sunlight. Yukina chose to ignore it.

“I wonder who it could be…” Moca said thoughtfully. “Perhaps someone in our band’s been harbouring a secret crush… or maybe one of those idols… oh my _god,_ imagine if it was Chisato-san?”

“I doubt it’s Shirasagi-san,” Sayo frowned.

Moca leaned back, elbow resting against Yukina’s desk. “Why’s that, Hikawa? You reckon Minato-san ain’t good enough for her?”

“No, of course not!” Sayo said immediately. “I just… you know what, never mind. I’m not having this conversation with you.”  
  
“What conversation?” Yukina blinked. She felt like she had gotten lost somewhere along the way. Then and again, Moca was very hard to talk to properly.

“Never mind. All I’m trying to say, is that if it isn’t Aya-san, you’ll probably find this girl at the live. I mean, loads of the band girls are total hot babes~” Moca said.

The door opened, and Lisa walked in, dragging Ran behind her.

“Oh, and there go two of them now,” Moca smirked. Sayo put her head in her hands.

“Huh? What are you talking about?” Lisa asked.

 _“Nothing,_ Imai-san,” Sayo said loudly. “Nothing important.”

“Ah, that’s good. I was just gonna say, I spent the whole time you guys were having your lovely chat trying to stop Ran from downing all the Minato alcohol.” Lisa said. “Then, when I asked her what was wrong, she just passed out. I’m guessing she didn’t take your story well, Yukina?” Lisa asked.

Moca immediately raced to Ran’s side. “Raaaan, you there?”

Ran made an unintelligible garbled noise.

“She’s fine,” Moca said.

“Really?” Lisa said, her voice full of doubt.

“She will be. I’ll take her home, tell the rest of Afterglow. Two out of five of us have fainted now. Perhaps we should go for the full set?” 

Lisa rolled her eyes. “Sure, sure. Come on. Let’s get her down these stairs, at least. You come too, Yukina, Sayo.”

Yukina glanced at Sayo before swinging her legs around. She then attempted to stand up. It was better than before, but still not the greatest feeling in the world. She was about to grit her teeth and bear it, but then she felt an arm around her waist. Mirroring the actions of her twin before, Sayo was offering her that much needed support and relief. 

Except that being helped by Sayo felt _so_ different to being helped by Hina. The place where Sayo’s hand was resting was already starting to tingle and Yukina knew with certainty that if she looked at Sayo right now, she would erupt into flames.

Somehow, she managed to put a slightly shaky arm around Sayo’s shoulders, and they began to follow the others, together.

* * *

“Lisa-san, it’s fine, no worries. The adorable little Ran is basically awake now. I’ll just wait for her to mutter a death threat about Minato-san and then I’ll know she’s in tip-top shape.” Moca assured Lisa, as they all stood in front of Yukina’s house.

“Screw you, Moca.” Ran muttered.

“See? She’s insulting me. She’s fine.”

Lisa nervously giggled. “Yeah, but you guys live kinda far from here, right? Come on. I’ll give you a lift. It’s the least I can do, seeing as I basically made Ran faint.”

Moca raised her eyebrows. “You got a license, Lisa-san?”

“Well, alright, I mean that I’m gonna beg my dad to drive us, but he’s cool, I swear!”

“That’s true,” Yukina said, because if she backed up Lisa, the two idiots would be off her property faster. Plus, Lisa’s dad was a ‘cool dude’. How else would he be friends with her own father?

“If you’re sure,” Moca said, and Lisa grinned at her, before turning to Sayo.

“Sayo. You wanna come home, too?”

Sayo looked at Yukina. “Well…”

Yukina shook her head. “Don’t worry about me. My mother will be back soon.”

Sayo sighed. “As long as you’re sure. I don’t want you doing anything reckless.”

“My life is very boring, I assure you. Plus, the faster my ankle heals, the quicker we can get back to rehearsal once all this… other stuff is over.” Yukina said. “And you’ve done more than enough for me today, Sayo.”

Sayo smiled at that, small and soft and hardly visible in the diminishing light but still _there_ and impossible not to return. “I know I may have been doubtful this morning, but really, spending today with you was very pleasant.”

Sayo could be so sweet when she wasn’t aware of it. Every compliment she gave was sincere, and Yukina felt that it was only right she was just as honest back. “I was glad to have you there. I invited you, after all.”

“I must say, I am very happy you did.” Sayo gave her one last smile, before slowly unhooking her arm from around her waist, making sure Yukina was able to stand by herself properly. She could, the pain being much more bearable compared to yesterday. Another thing to thank Sayo for.

Yukina watched fondly as Lisa unlocked her front door, yelled that she had ‘angsty teens in need of a ride’, saw her dad emerge about a minute later. She returned his greeting, insisting that she was _fine,_ she would be alright at home for a few moments. Moca, Ran and Lisa all got in the car, and then Sayo was last, giving her a wave before she opened the door and joined them. Yukina kept waving, kept her smile plastered on, right until the car had speeded away down the street.

And then she let the warm feelings inside her explode.

She hobbled back inside as quickly as she could, closing the door and resisting the urge to collapse against it. No. She would collapse in a minute, but preferably on her bed or some other comfortable surface.

She crawled up the stairs, and then hopped across the landing and through her room until she reached her bed, which she immediately threw herself onto.

She normally wasn’t one to swear, but-

 _“Fuuuuuuuuuck.”_ she groaned, smashing her head against her trusty cat pillow multiple times. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. I am _so_ fucked.”

The events of the day swirled around her head. She had made two very important discoveries. One; Ran Mitake did not have a crush on her (but was still very liable to punch her).

And two? 

The whole time this week, she had focused on all her time thinking about the feelings others might have towards her. 

Ran didn’t have feelings for her. Neither did Moca, or Kasumi, or her band, or Ako or Rinko or Lisa.

Neither did Sayo.

But as for herself? Perhaps she should have seen it earlier, but in Moca’s terms…

Yukina Minato had the hots for Sayo Hikawa.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will explain myself in the next chapter.
> 
> Upped the rating because even though Yukina says she isn't one to swear a lot, she will be soon.


	5. Aya

Friday (1:33 AM) 

  
  
An ever growing stack of music magazines piled on her desk. The jar of sweets she always kept at her bedside. Her noticeboard, pictures of Afterglow removed and replaced with the normal reminders that had been there before.

Yukina had lived in the same room, in the same house, for seventeen years. Not that she’d had much choice on the last point, mind, and she wouldn’t want to move away from Lisa anyway, but her room had never drastically changed. The walls had always been the same cream colour. Her curtains had always been purple. There had even always been the same loose floorboard in the corner that, according to books she read, she could hide something under, but she’d never had a reason to. She’d only ever lived with her parents, after all, and she didn’t particularly hide things from them. More that they simply knew she preferred to be left alone, and they didn’t prod, instead leaving their arms open for her to talk about her problems with them whenever she wanted to. 

However, Yukina did not.

But, it wasn’t really _that_ much of an issue, right? She told her dad about her music angst. That was enough. And besides, even if she did communicate well with her parents, she’d probably keep this latest thing nagging at her mind under wraps until she… understood it, at least.

The one advantage of never changing her room was the familiarity of it. It worked very well with her night owl tendencies. Right now, it was almost pitch black, but Yukina could still see in her mind’s eye the corner of her desk, the handle of her door, and the stack of her non-cat, and therefore less important, plushies at the bottom of her bed. Often, the familiarity served a practical purpose, such as her not stumbling during the night while heading to the bathroom. But right now, it brought a peace she absolutely needed.

After all, there was no better place to have an emotional breakdown than in the comfort of your own home.

Yukina had never been, and probably would never be, a person who was open with their emotions to others. But even so, one thing she knew was that no one could know about her crush on Sayo. Nobody. At least, for now. It was strictly her business until she got things worked out in her own head. After all, she’d only realised said crush about five hours ago, and it was already causing deep emotional turmoil.

Every conversation, every little touch, every one of Sayo’s rare smiles were repeating on loop in her head, like some kind of lovey-dovey slideshow. Yukina was torn between embracing it and trying to focus on literally anything else. There was her date with Aya tomorrow, she should probably be getting to bed soon, and she had to ask Lisa for catch-up notes on the work she’d missed… okay, that last thing wasn’t worth thinking about, actually.

On instinct, Yukina grabbed her favourite cat plushie and was about to smack it against her head again, before realising what she was doing and lowering it. She’d done that enough in the past few hours, and it hadn’t helped her at all.

No. She needed to think. One conversation in particular she’d had with Sayo was running extra laps around her brain. The heart to heart, on Tuesday, when Yukina had begun to wonder if being so utterly bored by men was a Normal Girl Experience. What was it Sayo had said? If she ever got a crush on a girl…

“It would be a giveaway that I’m not straight,” Yukina whispered into the darkness.

Her laptop was heavy on her lap. Normally, when Yukina had a problem, she would just Google it. Technology wasn’t exactly her finest area but she did understand how to use a search engine, and that doing so was far more convenient than rifling through a bunch of old books.

However, she’d always googled things like ‘maths cheats’ and ‘how to convince strict mother to get me another cat when i cried for six months when my old one died’. Nothing like this. She doubted the Internet could help her on this one.

...But it was worth a try.

Yukina lifted the lid of her laptop. Her cat monitor greeted her, but for once Yukina didn’t have the time to gaze at it. Instead, she immediately opened the search bar and typed in:

_How do i know if im gay_

Thousands of results popped up as soon as she pressed the enter key. Some forums, a couple of official looking websites, a bunch of anecdotes from people in the LGBT+ community, but mostly…

Quizzes.

There were so many quizzes.

Yukina had never been any good at quizzes, but this wasn’t school, was it? And besides, taking a quiz seemed like a much better idea than reading about other people talking about themselves.

She scrolled until she found one titled ‘Super Lesbian Test’, and figuring it eas her best bet, she clicked on the website.

  1. _When you see a pretty girl looking at you, what do you do?_



I blush and look away

I smile at her

I ask her, "What are you looking at?" 

I look away, but after a few seconds, look back again

I start talking with a friend

A question like this was to be expected, Yukina supposed. She thought for a moment. She wasn’t quite sure what a pretty girl was, but Sayo was certainly one of them. And when Sayo looked at her, generally she looked back? Sometimes a smile if it was a good show. And occasionally, she blushed.

But that was a quite embarrassing fact she was not about to divulge on the internet, so she picked the fourth option.

  1. _What colors do you like most?_



Pink/purple

Black/dark green

Red/blue

All colours are beautiful

White/grey

What kind of nonsense was this? How were colours in any way indicative of one’s homosexuality? Yukina sighed. She had to answer the question to continue with the quiz, though, so she chose ‘red/blue’. Red was a nice colour, on the whole, and blue would always be her favourite.

  1. _Have you ever wanted to touch a girl’s abs?_



Absolutely!!

Depends on the girl

Not really

I’d rather touch a boy’s abs

I am the girl with abs

Abs? Yukina hadn’t spent that much time thinking about them… did she even know any girls with abs? Lisa was semi-muscly because of her dance club, but Yukina was clueless beyond that. She’d just have to picture a girl with abs…

An image of Sayo with a perfectly toned stomach entered her head. Yukina screamed inwardly and threw it out of her metaphorical mind’s window.

  
  
  
  
  
  


…and then proceeded to check ‘Depends on the girl’.

The quiz continued to grill her on many topics, ranging from the chocolate she liked to eat to her kissing and hugging feelings. Yukina tried to give each question as honest an answer as she could, even if some were ridiculous. But it was the last once that made her utterly stop in her tracks.

  1. _Have you ever been in love?_



No, but I want to be

Yes, and I really liked the feeling

Yes, but only with girls

I'm not sure if it was love

I'm not sure if it is love

Now that was a question that made her think.

Perhaps it was irrational for her to be considering a question from a quiz probably written by some bored teen on the internet years ago so deeply, but the simplicity of the question was making Yukina seriously wonder.

It was so peculiar. At the start of this week, if anyone asked her, she would say she had never even liked anyone. But now…

Her realisation that she did in fact like Sayo had felt sudden, but the more she thought about it, Yukina realised that in her heart, Sayo had always been quite special. But she had assumed that was because she was her first member, and everyone in Roselia was special to her, and-

What was it Lisa always said? If she ever fell in love, the last person to realise it would be herself.

Yukina closed the lid of her laptop. She didn’t need a quiz to tell her what she already knew.

The stars had lined up, or something, and currently it seemed she really was a lesbian after all. Huh. How fascinating. Some part of Yukina thought maybe she should have realised earlier, but her thoughts once again drifted to the conversation on Tuesday with Sayo. It was fine to work these things out at seventeen, surely? Even though she had spent her whole life only acknowledging one man ever (her father), it was normal not to realise these things. Although coming to terms with her sexuality earlier may have affected Roselia’s music, perhaps for the better? Then and again, she had written plenty of more-than-friendly songs about her bandmates, so…

Well, she was here now. It was 1am, the best time in the day to come to important conclusions about yourself. But, wasn’t there more after this? Shouldn’t she be… telling people? Or something? Frankly it was nobody’s business, but seeing as she was saving the world in a VERY GAY WAY, the circumstances were a little exceptional. And there were a couple of important people she wanted to know, regardless. Lisa, Roselia, her parents? Didn’t they have a right to know? And wasn’t there a phrase for all this? Coming out - but of what, exactly? The closet - no, that didn’t sound right. The counter? No, because that would technically be coming out from under the counter, and that sounded strange. Perhaps it was… coming out of the cabinet? Ah, there it was. That was the phrase she’d been looking for.

So, yes. She was coming out. Of the cabinet. But in the morning - Lisa was a light sleeper, Yukina wouldn’t want to wake her up with a text about this. She could tell all of Roselia at rehearsal - even Sayo. She still vowed not to tell Sayo of her feelings - coming out as a lesbian and coming out as Gay For Sayo were two very different things, after all. But after their heart to heart (that did definitely not threaten to turn Yukina into a pile of gooey mush every time she thought about it), it was only fair that she inform Sayo of her new revelations. It would just be a friendly chat. They were lesbian gal pals. Guitarist and vocalist. Nothing more. And by a ‘crush’, Sayo had probably meant some gorgeous lady off the TV, not herself. So it was fine. She didn’t need to know. Sayo didn’t like her back. It was fine.

Another memory flashed across her mind. Sayo, who had come back to the studio to find her when she was awash in darkness. Something about Sayo had completely captivated Yukina in that moment. The fire in her eyes, the burning passion she spoke with, the realisation that the Sayo trying to help her was a different Sayo to the one she’d met. It was as if Sayo was a storm, and Yukina was more than willing to be swept up in her. In fact - she _wanted_ to be.

Yukina shook herself. Such thoughts were useless and unproductive. If she ever wanted to have a normal conversation with Sayo again, she had to stop thinking like this. Life didn’t work like Lisa’s romances. She couldn’t expect the first girl she fell for to like her back. And she didn’t need romance, anyway. She’d seek out whichever band girl liked her, help her save the world, and if they succeeded at that, she’d go back to being the lone wolf songstress.

It was simple, and not worth unnecessarily pondering for any longer. So before her brain ran even further into the storm, Yukina put her laptop on the floor, pulled up the covers, and shut her eyes tight, hoping for the sweet release of sleep.

  
  


Friday (5:19 PM) 

  
  


Yukina was about to die.

Everything was on fire. Every bite, every press of the meat against her mouth only fanned the flames burning within her. How did people enjoy this stuff? Yukina needed something, _anything,_ to get rid of the sensation. The glass of cool water with ice in front of her was her saviour (she’d learnt her lesson from Tuesday and not ordered coffee) and she eagerly downed it, sighing in satisfaction as the fire on every surface on her mouth blew away… only to come back again in seconds as an inferno.

Her dire situation must have been evident as Aya Maruyama was looking at her in some cross between horror and concern. Yukina couldn’t feel much beyond the fire but she was aware the half-eaten chicken wing was actually shaking in her hand a little. She tried to communicate to Aya that she would be okay, but she wasn’t certain of that fact nor able to talk at that moment.  
  
After what felt like an eternity, eons upon eons stretched out across the cosmic universe, Yukina could finally function normally again. “I’m fine,” she gasped, but Aya’s expression didn’t shift one bit.

Yukina got up from the table to refill her glass. Clearly, the water didn’t help, but the desire to drink it was still there all the same. Yukina sighed and tried to compose herself as she watched her glass slowly fill with shattered ice. Well, her and Aya had decided to share the ‘Chicken Wing Roulette’, a mixture of wings all grilled in various unknown levels of spice, and Yukina had clearly been selected by God to bear the burden of tasting all the spiciest wings.

(The only ‘god’ she knew of right now clearly disliked her enough to put the brunt of saving the world on her shoulders, so she could see it doing this too.)

Yukina sat back down, mentally yelling at herself not to down the whole glass in one go again. 

This was ridiculous. She was on a date, had skipped _school_ to go on this date (in her defence, her ankle still hurt), and here she was, making a fool of herself. She had agreed to meet with Aya over text two days ago, and so far things were going smoothly. They were in the mall, and while Yukina was no stranger to the bizarre buildings full of every type of shop and awkward interactions with cashiers and mind-numbingly irritating pop music, that was always when Lisa dragged her along on her shopping trips. She had never been on a romantic date to the mall before, but things weren’t too different, she supposed, probably because Aya was quite similar to Lisa. Aya had enthusiastically shown her all her favourite shops, brought a bunch of cute things, and chattered away the whole time. It was a little exhausting, but Yukina was used to it.

Aya’s brows were still furrowed. “You sure you’re okay, Yukina-chan?”

“I’m alright. Clearly some god- I mean, I simply got a nasty surprise. I must have had the bad luck of tasting the spiciest possible wing. It was called ‘black dragon’, I believe.”

Aya’s face had become stricken at the mention of the word ‘god’, but she seemed a little more relaxed now. She tentatively took a wing and nodded. “Well, if you’re sure.”

But even though the date was going well, they’d been shopping together for roughly an hour, and yet Aya remained a mystery to Yukina. She seemed on edge, jumping whenever Yukina or a cashier addressed her. And now they were finally sitting down to eat something, Aya still looked tense. It made Yukina want to _reassure_ her, like Aya was her younger sister or something. Well, technically she was older than Aya by a couple of months… 

And then there was her outfit. Yukina had to admit that the only thing that had threatened to put a wrench in their date was that her and Aya didn’t know each other that well, making things a little bit awkward. But even so, Yukina knew that the beanie, flannel shirt and cuffed jeans Aya was currently wearing were not her usual style. At all. Aya was all cutesy and pink, right? Right now she looked strange. Almost like… Hina?  
  
Yukina didn’t know much about the idol world, but she did know that Hina Hikawa was a truly unconventional idol. So why was Aya imitating her?

Aya seemed hesitant as she raised the wing to her mouth, but after a couple of seconds chewing she exhaled a sigh of relief. “This one has a good flavour,” she said affirmatively.

And yet, for some reason, her voice shook as she spoke.

“Maruyama-san? Are you alright?” Yukina asked.

“Just positive!” Aya replied enthusiastically, and far too quickly. Yukina frowned.

She was here first and foremost to find out whether Aya was the chosen one. It was a necessary task, one that was beginning to nag in her mind more and more as the end of the week drew nearer. And yet, she was still on a date. She avoided Lisa’s romance movies as much as she could, but on the rare occasions that she was roped into watching them, she had learnt a couple of things. She was the one who had asked Aya out, so she had to pay attention to her feelings.

And with Aya’s strange behaviour, and new way of dressing, and her general jumpy attitude that Yukina knew was sort of a part of her, but had been excessive on this trip in particular, Yukina had to work out what was on her mind. Not just for curiosity’s sake, but also because she was concerned. Aya was a friend, at the end of the day, just like Kasumi or Hina or Moca. That was why she was here.

But there was the first and most crucial part of her mission to deal with first - discovering Aya’s feelings. Yukina could get to the rest of Aya’s troubles later - but what if her problems were all directly related to Yukina’s task? As in, what if Aya was nervous because she was the chosen one? People generally got nervous around the one they liked. Well, Yukina had never been nervous around Sayo, but perhaps that was because she hadn’t realised her feelings - but she couldn’t think about that right now. She had to focus on the girl sitting across from her. It would be impolite to be too homosexual all of a sudden.

“Maruyama-san, would you mind if I asked you something quite personal?” Yukina asked.

Aya immediately snapped to attention, her gaze turning to steel. “Yes. Of course.” she said, setting the now finished wing down on her plate.

Yukina took a moment to compose herself. And then: “We are on a date, yes?”

“Y-Yes?” Aya replied, some of her sudden confidence fading. “I mean, we are, aren’t we? Right? I mean, is that a question? This is a date, right? I mean, I’m not too sure, but, uh, yeah, let’s say that it is!”

“...I see.” Yukina said, although she actually did not. How had such a simple question caused so many words to spill out of Aya’s mouth? She would never decipher this girl. Perhaps idols were just a different species, one she could understand even less than humans. “Well, in any case, I believe we are on a date. Which is why I wanted to ask you something personal.”

“Alright.” Aya said, her confidence returned. “What is it? I’m ready, I swear!”

“I simply need to know one thing. Do you have romantic feelings for me, Maruyama-san?” Yukina asked.  
  
Unlike everyone else she’d asked, Aya didn’t seem thrown by the question at all. She almost seemed… _ready_ for it. She took a long, deep drink of her water, before setting the glass down with a satisfying _clink._ And then:  
  
“Yes! I do!”  
  
Yukina was so surprised at how quickly and easily she had confessed, as well as being distracted by the swirling in her stomach that had suddenly formed, she didn’t even realise that her wrist hadn’t jolted.

After a couple of seconds, Aya’s face broke. “U-Um, is that an issue?”  
  
Was it really Aya? Was this it? Were things just… over now? Was the world saved? It all felt very anti-climatic. Just to check, Yukina quietly pulled down her sleeve under the table, and realised that the numbers hadn’t changed at all. In fact, she’d never felt them change, either.

Hmm. Yukina put on her ‘scariest’ face, the one Ako claimed she wore when she was criticising her for rushing ahead of tempo. “Maruyama-san. I mean this with great respect - but are you lying?”

Aya’s face immediately twisted into terror. “Why would you say that- I mean, um- I swear… okay, okay, yes, I am! I’m lying! I lied! I’m really really really sorry please forgive me please I’m sorry it won’t happen again!”

“Please relax. I am not annoyed.” Yukina said, and Aya visibly deflated. The jolt had made its presence known on her wrist halfway through Aya’s nervous monologue, and Yukina looked at her wrist again to see the same cruel red numbers ticking by, before fading to the usual black. 

That was that, then. She really was running out of options.

She leaned forward. “Though, I am curious. It is not unheard of for someone to lie and say they do not love somebody when they actually do. However, the opposite is much more rare. I’m just… confused, as to why you would do that.”

“I… Well, Hina-chan kinda told me everything?” Aya said, and Yukina realised. Of _course_ it was Hina. Perhaps Sayo was right with her complaints about her eccentric behaviour all the time after all. “I thought it was part of some new elaborate way to tease me, but then I got the text from you and realised that this was real. I guess I just felt sympathy for you… it’s already Friday and you haven’t found out who it is! I don’t want the world to end! I just… wanted to help.” 

“I see. Well, I appreciate the sentiment, Maruyama-san, but if you do not have feelings for me, there is not much you can do. Simply informing me that you are not the chosen one is more than enough.” Yukina replied.

“I know, I know.” Aya said. “It was just - worth a try, I guess? I’m really sorry!”  
  
“I said it wasn’t a problem already, did I not?” Yukina said. “Please don’t excessively worry yourself on my behalf.”

“I wish I did like you!” Aya said. “I’ve liked other girls before! Maybe even some now… but anyway! Um, I just want you to know that if I could press a button to make me have a crush on you I’d totally press it! To save the world, and all that! And also cause I think you’re really pretty. And stuff. Yeah. Okay, I think I’m gonna stop talking now!”

Yukina frowned at the word ‘pretty’. She’d been told as such by others before, but she thought it was a little unfair when she hardly put any effort into her appearance at all, except for live performances. She thought that other girls who invested much more time into their looks deserved the compliments more, but such was life. Compliments were bizarre, in any case. Moca had once said that she had ‘a great ass’ when she had entered the store and Lisa was in the back room, unable to control her, and while Yukina was sure she did not like Moca in that way, that one singular comment occupied her brain almost as much as every time Sayo had said something nice to her.

Yukina grabbed a chicken wing to take her mind of such matters. Thankfully, it was crispy, and yet not grilled with enough spice to murder her on the spot.

Her and Aya ate in comfortable silence for a while. Yukina still had a lot she wanted to ask, especially as to why Aya was dressed so strangely, but she was more comfortable chewing on her wings than trying to start a conversation. Yukina generally considered herself good at initiating conversations, but other people didn’t seem to appreciate her saying what she wanted to say outright instead of phrasing it nicely. And then Yukina always struggled to keep the conversation going once she had gotten the information she wanted, which not many people liked either.

But it seemed she wasn’t going to be the only one coming out with bold statements today. Just as Yukina grabbed another wing (it was her fifth or sixth and the pile on their shared plate wasn’t getting any smaller), Aya leaned forward and said: “So, is there anyone _you_ like?”

This particular wing was the mildest one so far, and yet Yukina felt her life flash before her eyes once again as she bit down _hard._

 _“P-Pardon?”_ she choked out eventually.

“I-I mean!” Aya said. “I don’t mean to be invasive, it’s just like, you’re supposed to find out who likes you, but what about who _you_ like? Your feelings are important too!”

“It’s very kind of you to say that,” Yukina said, “but I don’t believe that’s true.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“The focus is not on me. It’s on whoever likes me. I may not know who that person is yet, but I aim to find them and save the world. ‘My feelings’ do not come into the equation at all.”

Aya looked genuinely offended. “Noo! Yukina-chan! You can’t just say that! Don’t give up on your heart! If there’s someone you like, you should tell them! Even if it won’t help save the world!”

Yukina paused. “Is that really what you think, Maruyama-san?”

“Of course!” Aya said. “I mean, do you like someone?”

“I…” All of a sudden, words were taking much longer to form on Yukina’s tongue. It was very irritating. “I-I suppose I do, yes.”

“Okay. And do you know how they feel about you yet?”

“She’s not the chosen one, if that’s what you’re asking.” Yukina said. “Therefore, I fully intend to keep my feelings private. There is no need to bother her with such a thing.”

“No!” Aya replied, slamming her fist down on the table forcefully, turning more than a few heads. “You’re thinking too logically about this, Yukina-chan! You need to think with your heart!”

“Maruyama-san, I appreciate the sentiment, but it is truly unnecessary.” Yukina said. “Sa- She doesn’t like me, so there is no need to tell her, especially not now, when I am focusing on literally preventing the end of the world.”

“But, Yukina-chan, the end of the world gives you even more reason to tell her!” Aya said.

“It… does?” Yukina was genuinely confused now.

“Sure does! I mean, I’m sure you’ll stop everything from, well… ending, but just in case you don’t, you would want whoever you like to know your feelings, right? You don’t wanna die with regrets!”

“Die with regrets…” Yukina mumbled. “No, I don’t suppose I would like that very much.”

“See! Just tell her how you feel, even if it isn’t returned! She’s your friend, right? So I’m sure she won’t be mad, whoever it is!” Aya leaned in closer. “Who _is_ it, by the way?”

Yukina frowned. “Do you really need to know?”

“Ahaha, I guess not, but I’m curious!” Aya said. “You don’t have to tell me, it’s fine, but from what you’ve been saying, it sounds like you’re struggling with love, Yukina-chan. And I’m here to listen! I mean, we aren’t gonna be running out of wings anytime soon.”

“Alright,” Yukina sighed. “It’s Sayo.”

“I knew it!” Aya said.

“Excuse me?” Yukina replied. “How on Earth would you know that?”

“I mean, you know when you’re on stage, right, and then you come and like, _wrap_ an arm around Sayo-chan, and then lean in close to her as you sing?” Aya said. Yukina nodded. “I just assumed you were doing that because you two were all lovey-dovey! Like, the most the agency lets me do is a little twirl near Hina-chan! It sucks!”

“I see,” Yukina said. “Well, I’m afraid that you are wrong, Maruyama-san. That is all just fanservice. It was Ako’s suggestion, actually, supposed to make our performances ‘cooler’... although… I do wish, sometimes…” Yukina trailed off, not wanting to say the last part out loud. But it seemed Aya got the message regardless.

“Aww, you’re so gay for her!” she exclaimed.

Yukina sighed. “I… I am.”

“And are you gonna tell her?”

Yukina sighed again, much more deeply. “You think it is a good idea, so…”

“Cause it is!” Aya said. “Trust me, Yukina-chan, there’s no way Sayo-chan will be mad at you, even if she doesn’t like you back. There’s nothing to fear! You’re, like, the super cool and fearless leader of Roselia after all. Telling a girl you like her should be nothing seeing as you’re saving the world!”

“Maruyama-san, you are aware I don’t have a choice in this? I’m doing this because I simply must, not due to bravery.” Yukina replied, seeing as it was quite an important point.

“I guess that’s true, but I still admire you! Like, you’ve been so composed the whole time we’ve been going out. I would be freaking out by now! I… kind of am, actually.” Aya mumbled.

“Honestly, the whole experience hasn’t been too nerve-wracking,” Yukina said. “As far as I can tell, there are no effects of the world ending in two days to be felt anywhere. And I don’t really have many friends. So even if I am a tiny bit apprehensive, at this point, this whole exercise feels more like a way for me to learn new things about myself, than anything.”

Aya was looking across at her with her mouth open.

“Is… something wrong?” Yukina asked.  
  
“Oh! Nothing, it’s okay!” Aya said. “You just seemed really cool and mature just then… so, what things have you been learning?”  
  
Yukina looked at Aya again. Even with the bizarre outfit, she was becoming more Lisa-like as time went on after all. Granted, Aya got easily flustered and apologised more than Lisa, but she still asked just as many, if not more, questions than Yukina’s nosy best friend.

But Aya was pleasant enough company. And it was very difficult to lie to her.

“I’ve realised… well, my feelings for Sayo. In fact, even though I technically only found out I did indeed hold romantic feelings for her this week, I believe they formed long ago, and I simply never picked up on them. This strange experience has allowed me to see that now.” Yukina said.

“Aww that’s cute! And that kinda happened to me too? Like, there’s this girl, and I didn’t really know if I liked her, cause she says a lot of weird stuff to me, but I kinda like it? But then I had a dream where she pushed me against the wall and leaned in close… um, well, now I know for sure!”

Aya had casually mentioned it before, but now Yukina was certain: she liked girls too. This was becoming a pattern. Sayo, Lisa and Rinko all did, (that was most of her band!) and with the comments Moca had been making yesterday, even Yukina could realise she must like girls too. And then there was Kaoru Seta, from her school (was she a friend?), and well… Kaoru was simply Kaoru.  
  
Was this just a band girl thing? Was it some kind of pattern? Perhaps the bonds of music really did increase homosexuality after all.  
  
But… a dream? That made Yukina remember something. “I did have a dream about Sayo once, as a matter of fact. At the time I didn’t think much of it, but I’ve been led to believe through my realisations that it actually had quite an intense meaning.”  
  
Aya leaned forward, grabbing another wing, her eyes glinting. “Was it… a, um, _dirty_ dream?”

Yukina frowned. “Well, no. It took place in CiRCLE, which, to my knowledge, is a place that values hygiene.”

Aya collapsed back in her seat. “Ah. Ahaha. I see… What was it actually like then?”

Yukina recounted it as accurately as she could. It had happened a few months ago, after they had created the song ‘Neo-Aspect’. In the dream, Yukina had been standing in CiRCLE, watching a band she couldn’t remember on stage. But it didn’t matter. She was being swept up in the crowd, sure that Lisa or someone had been standing next to a second ago but now they were gone. She was beginning to panic, and the music was too loud and she couldn’t find her way. But before she could become swallowed in the crowd, she felt the light, soft pressure of lips against the back of her arm. It was the warmest thing she had felt in a long time, but not in an uncomfortable way, like how the heat of the crowd was affecting her. No, this warmth was different. All of a sudden, Yukina’s mind was clear, and her every doubt vanished. The crowd parted, and the world was beautiful. She turned to see who it was that could pull off such a miracle, and right there, standing behind her, was none other than her most loyal guitarist, Sayo.

Yukina had awoken with a couple of questions, but she had been able to shake them off and continue with her day afterwards. She wouldn’t let anything affect practice, after all.

“Yukina-chan, she literally kissed you!” Aya giggled. “How did you not realise?!”

“It was only on the back of my arm. I simply assumed that was a perfectly platonic place to kiss. A homie kiss, if you will.”

“Godddddd,” Aya said, laughing. Yukina was a little offended, not seeing the joke, but she decided not to vocalise it. She took another wing, and decided to lead the conversation away from her struggles. Slightly. As much as she could.  
  
“Do not worry, Maruyama-san. I see the connotations of the dream now. I suppose that the past five days have made me… reflect. On my behaviour around Sayo, as well as how I feel about girls in general. And it’s made me think ‘Wait, it’s all lesbian?’”  
  
“Always has been!” Aya said. “Wow, it was like, the exact same for me, Yukina-chan. I mean, except the magical bears and the world ending and stuff. But other than that, we have a ton in common! Like, there was this idol I really looked up to and admired when I was younger, right? But then, when I realised I liked girls, turns out I had it bad for her all along. I just had no idea!”

“I have a similar experience.” Yukina mused. “There was this beautiful young girl on TV when I was a child myself. She had long, flowing blonde hair and the dazzling violet eyes. Even though we were around the same age, she spoke so maturely and was an excellent actress already, even if the only times I saw her were on the sub-par programmes Lisa liked to watch. She stood out. I was mesmerised.”

Aya was halfway through her first bite of a wing, but that didn’t stop her from speaking. “Wait, isn’t that Ch-” But before she could finish her sentence, her eyes widened and she began to splutter. “IT’S - HOT! TOO HOT! GAHHHH - NEED - WATER!”

Clearly it was Aya’s turn to lose the roulette too. Yukina pushed Aya’s glass towards her, even though she knew from experience it would make things worse. It took Aya a full minute after downing the whole cup in one go to breathe properly again, and even then all she could say was: “I’m beginning to think… this Wing Roulette was a _huge_ mistake… I have a show tomorrow! I’m gonna ruin my throat!”

“While I share the sentiment, I’m sure you will be fine for your performance.” Yukina said, in an attempt to be reassuring. “But if you don’t mind me asking, what was it you were going to say?”

“Huh? Oh, nothing, I forgot.” Aya said, with a wave of her hand. “Anyway, Yukina-chan, you are coming to our live tomorrow, right?”  
  
“Of course,” Yukina said. “Your music differs greatly from ours, but I find it most enjoyable.”

“Ehehe, thank you,” Aya said, but the glint in her eyes was back. “And is Sayo-chan going too?”  
  
“I… assume so?” Yukina said. “Lisa ends up bringing all of us, that is, Roselia, to these events most of the time. And I don’t think Sayo would want to miss Hina performing.”

“Right!” Aya said. “So, you should tell Sayo-chan how you feel then!”

Yukina was beginning to wish she had gotten some coffee after all. It was a great comfort to her, and she was starting to think she needed it. “W-Why then? It’s your show, is it not? Wouldn’t I be… over-stepping, in some way?”

“You have my blessing to do it then!” Aya said. “And besides, it’s the perfect opportunity. You’ll have plenty of time to work up the courage to tell her, cause Hina-chan is kinda trying to turn it into some kind of late-night party? I don’t know. She becomes even harder to control when she’s around Hello, Happy World…”

“I see,” Yukina said. “If you’re sure, then I will try and tell Sayo then.”

“Awesome!” Aya said. “Also, you should consider wearing something fancy to impress her. We’re in a mall! And you’ve barely brought anything!”

“I didn’t see the need to,” Yukina said. “I didn’t know Sayo was the type to pay attention to such things.”  
  
“Trust me, any girl loves a pretty dress!” Aya said affirmatively. “And it’ll help with your confidence too. Like, you see what I’m wearing right now?”  
  
Yukina wanted to reply that it had been impossible _not_ to notice Aya’s beanie and flannel shirt that made her look like a lumberjack, but for the sake of politeness, she refrained. “Yes?”

“I’m wearing it because, well, this is like, lesbian fashion. I’m doing it for the lesbians!” Aya said. “But also cause the girl _I_ like dresses like this, so if I wear clothes like these more often, maybe she’ll like me more, you know? Although hardly anyone recognises me in public when I’m like this…”

“So… you’re saying I should dress how you are now?” Yukina asked. “So I can look more like a lesbian… and that’ll be good for Sayo?”

“Noooo!” Aya said. “You gotta wear something more _you._ Look,” Aya gestured at the almost finally defeated plate of chicken wings. “When we finish these, we are gonna go to all the stores and find the perfect outfit. Something that both you _and_ Sayo will like.”

And then Aya leaned forward for probably the millionth time, but instead of coming out with a bold statement or invasive question, she reached over to squeeze Yukina’s greasy hand. “It’ll be amazing. Trust me!”

And no matter what Yukina thought of Aya, the pink eyes looking into her own and the fingers on hers were as 100% genuine. Yukina smiled.

“Alright.”

They soon left the restaurant to speed around all the clothes stores that were closing soon. And Aya’s energy was so infectious, and Yukina was too busy being whirled around the mall by her, that she didn’t even stop to question _why_ they were shopping to impress Sayo when there was no chance of Yukina’s feelings being returned. 

She didn’t even realise that until she was on the train home, an elegant dress neatly folded in a bag, but when she did, the thought didn’t alarm her. Instead it was… strangely thrilling.  
  
Perhaps it was wrong, but she let the warmth she had come to associate with Sayo fill her for the rest of the journey anyway.

* * *

Once Yukina was finally home, she noticed she’d received a new text message. She frowned as she crawled under the familiar covers of her bed to read it, her phone screen lighting up her face.

Before Roselia, Yukina had had four contacts in her phone. Her parents, Lisa, and CiRCLE. She hadn’t seen an issue with that. But as of present, it had swelled to quadruple that amount. Some of them Yukina forgot she had until certain moments, like when Moca texted her thirty bread-eating ASMRs in a row with a single cat video sprinkled within. Or when Kaoru - yes, _Kaoru,_ sent her a holiday greeting, or a birthday wish, or a random message of encouragement that always started with _My dearest kitten_ and that Yukina refused to admit made her heart skip a little.

But today, it was someone who’s number she _did_ have, but had never received a message from in her life.

_SMILE AND SING A SONG!!!: HEEEEEEELLLLLLLOOOOOOO YUKINA!!!!!!!!!!!! I WAS TALKING TO HINA AND SHE TOLD ME SOMETHING SUPER DUPER COOL!!!!!!! SHE SAID THAT MOCA TOLD LISA WHO TOLD HER THAT YOU TOLD MOCA THAT ALL OF ROSELIA WERE COMING TO OUR SHOW!!!!!!! THAT MAKES ME SOOOOOOOO HAPPYYYYYY!!!!!!!! I CANT WAIT TO SEE YOU THERE!!!!!!!!! BUT THEN HINA ALSO SAID THAT YOU WERE LOOKING FOR SOMEONE WHO LIKED YOU!!!!!! IM SORRY YOU WERE FEELING SAD AND THAT NO ONE LIKED YOU :(((((((((((((((((( I REALLY LIKE YOU! I LIKE EVERYONE!!!!!! AND EVERYTHING!!!!!!!! BUT I LIKE YOU A WHOLE WHOLE BUNCH!!!!!!!!! AND IM SURE LOADS OF OTHERS DO TOOO!!!!!! AND IF YOU EVER NEED TO SMILE WE’LL PUT ON A SHOW FOR YOU!!!!! LIKE WE WILL TOMORROWWW!!!! OKAY THATS ALL I WANTED TO SAY BUH BYE YUKINA!!!!!!!!!_

Kokoro Tsurumaki.

First of all, why was Hina so intent on telling people around her about Yukina’s situation? It was still very embarrassing. No doubt she’d blabbed to others that weren’t Aya or Kokoro too, and they all thought she was a fool now. And Hello, Happy World! were performing tomorrow too… Despite this text that was threatening to give her a headache, Kokoro was a friend too, right? So was… oh no, was _Kaoru_ a friend? Perhaps she would just talk to the whole band tomorrow. Moca had said that all the band girls could possibly be her friends, after all. Well, that wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t as if she disliked HHW. In fact, she found their goal of making the world smile quite admirable, as different as it was to Roselia’s aims. Their band could just be… a bit too much sometimes. Catchy music, though. But not really her genre.

But before she could get caught up in any more grumbling, her screen flashed with another message, sent just now.

From someone she was much more familiar with.

As Yukina read it, butterflies danced around her stomach like they were putting on their own concert, and her grip on her phone grew tighter and tighter with every time she reread the message, that was so formal, and so _Sayo._

_Sayo H: Minato-san,_

_I understand that Roselia, including yourself, and myself, will be attending the event at CiRCLE tomorrow. Hopefully it shall be a fun event, if not more than a little chaotic, considering Hina and Tsurumaki-san seem to be the main organisers._

_I’d like to take the opportunity of the event to have a private word with you, if you wouldn’t mind. Could you meet me some point after the show is done? I’m sure we will cross paths long before that, but I don’t want to encroach on your enjoyment of the performances._

_Please reply when you see this. With a bit of luck, I shall see you tomorrow._

_-Sayo Hikawa_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally we're back!!! It's been a while since I updated (as in, literal months) and seeing as the first four chapters all get uploaded within four weeks that's a little embarrassing. But I can explain, I swear. When I uploaded Ch1, most of the next three chapters were fully written and ready to go. I actually intended to finish this whole thing before uploading anything, but I got too excited and ended up posting Ch1 at 3am one night... oops.
> 
> I started this chapter right after I posted Ch4, but as it turns out, lockdown gives you the TIME to write but not the motivation! Throughout April and May this chapter got increasingly long-winded and boring, and there was nothing I could do to save it except completely rewrite it. Which is what I've been doing since about mid-June. (except for getting side tracked by writing other stuff...) Now, I can finally update this story again! I've been so excited to all these months.
> 
> I hope this chapter made up for the wait. I originally made a goal of 'alright I gotta finish this by the end of July' but I don't think that's gonna happen lol, Ch6 and 7 are gonna be pretty long! But I do intend to put all my focus into this story for now. I can't wait to write the rest and share it with you all!
> 
> ALSO MASSIVE THANK YOU TO @DivineNoodles for beta'ing this for me! READ HER FICS THEY ROCK

**Author's Note:**

> Twitter: @sekundii


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